


The Feeling of Falling

by FirstAde



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Detective Lexa, Doctor Clarke, F/F, Fluffy, Kid Aden, No Angst, Single Parent Clarke, Some police work and description of crime scenes, a lot of people happen to have been adopted, its so cute, you having a bad day? read this. kind of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-10-01 23:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 45,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10203182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirstAde/pseuds/FirstAde
Summary: Lexa is a detective, Clarke is a doctor. Everyone is happy, but these two will be even happier together.This is the story of how they fall in love.





	1. Good Talk

**Author's Note:**

> I just started a tumblr. Still not sure how it works, but come follow me and hit me up in the asks.
> 
> https://firstade-universe.tumblr.com/

_ Wednesday, February 24th  11:14am _

 

“Listen, Mr. Murphy, I won't tell you again. Stop trying to get free and wait for the doctor treat you.”

“Awe, come on Woods, you're no fun.” Murphy whines as he pulls on the handcuffs currently binding him to the exam table. She rolls her eyes as the doctor enters the room.

“Detective Woods, hello.”

“Good morning, Dr. Griffin.” She greets Clarke with a bright smile. Lincoln likes to say it's the one she reserves only for girls she is sweet on, but Lexa says she is just being friendly.

“So, Mr. Murphy, what did you do to your face?”

“Look Doc, I didn't do anything, Woods here put me through a window.”

Again, she rolls her eyes. “Mr. Murphy attempted to evade capture by running across 5th into traffic. As he looked over his shoulder to see how far back we were he ran into a pane of glass being moved from a truck to the store front where it was to be installed. It shattered in and around his face. Pretty sure it'll be the most entertaining collar of the day. Thanks for my free beer, Murphy.”

“Any time, Woods, any time.”

Clarke grabs some forceps and a head lamp. She places the light on her head and situates herself in front of Murphy. “I am going to check to make sure there are no glass shards in this deep cut here, then I'll stitch you up and the good detective here can take you to jail.”

“You can't admit me or something? It's Friday. I don't want to spend the whole weekend in jail.”

Lexa laughs. “You should have thought about that before you tried to steal a bait car.”

Clarke let out a loud gasp. “A bait car Mr. Murphy? In broad daylight?” She clicked her tongue at him. “Come on, you're better than that.”

“Sorry to disappoint Doc, but it appears I am not.” He pulls on the cuffs again to prove his point. She works on his face for about twenty minutes before she announces he is good to go. She asks Lexa to follow her out of the room before she uncuffs the prisoner. She nods and obliges the request.

“So, I had a lot of fun the other night at the bonfire.” The blonde smiles at Lexa as she leans against the wall next to the exam room door. The detective returns her bright smile as she mirrors her position.

“I'm glad to hear that, I did too. I was actually hoping we could do that again.”

“Go to a bonfire?”

Lexa rubs the back of her neck nervously, Clarke thinks about how cute she is. “No, um, I meant hang out together.”

Clarke narrows her eyes at the brunette playfully and smirks. “Are you asking me on a date, Detective?”

“I, uh.” She clears her throat, and tries again. “Clarke, I would love to take you on a date, if you'll allow it.”

Clarke chuckles lightly. “Oh, I'll allow it. I am off tomorrow at 6am. So how's tomorrow night? Say, 7?”

“Great.” Lexa responds with squeak. She clears her throat and tries to convey some semblance of confidence. “Great, um, text me your address and I'll pick you up. I better get that one to jail.”

 

_ Two hours later _

 

“Hey mom.”

_ “Lexa, honey how are you?” _

“I'm good, just got back to the station and I have some paperwork to do for a sting we assisted with earlier.”

_ “That's good dear. Listen, your father and I would like to see you. It's been far too long. Can you come around tomorrow night for dinner?” _

“I'd love to do dinner mom, but I have plans tomorrow night. How about tonight or Friday night?”

_ “Tonight is my bridge club, Alexandria, you know that. Friday night may work. I'll ask your father. LUTHER, how about Friday? No, she has plans tomorrow night. I don't know if she can move them Luther, I didn't ask what they were. Okay, okay. Your father wants to know if your plans can be rescheduled?” _

“I would rather not reschedule, Mom. It's a date, and what kind of gentlewoman would I be if I had to tell her, ‘Oh, by the way, I know I asked you out but I can't actually do the day we agreed to because something came up.’ It sets a tone of de-prioritizing her. I definitely don’t want that.”

_ “LUTHER, it's a date. She can't reschedule. I don't know who the girl is, she didn't say. Lexa dear, who is the girl?” _

“Mom, look, I promise to tell you all about her Friday night if the date goes well, okay?”

_ “Fair enough. See you Friday dear. Love you.” _

“Love you both. Bye.”

Lexa sends up a small prayer that none of her coworkers honed in on any of that as she makes her way to her desk. Her phone begins to ring again and he answers it without looking at the caller ID.

“Mom, I told you we will talk about her Friday.”

_ “I really hope you were planning on talking to your mom about me and not some other girl.” _

Fucking fuck. “Clarke. Hey. Can we just forget I said that and start this conversation over?” The line went dead and Lexa was left with a sinking feeling that she didn't even get to the first date before she messed it up. Then her phone was ringing again.

“Clarke?”

_ “You said you wanted to start over, yet you sound surprised I called back.” _

Lexa laughed heartily. “I didn't realize you would take my request so literally.”

_ “Get used to it Woods, I'm hilarious.” _

“I'll keep that in mind. So, what can I do for you?”

_ “Oh, right. It seems you left Mr. Murphy’s wallet behind at the nurses desk when you checked him in.” _

“Oh. Okay, I think Anya should be there getting her stitches out from that bar scuffle two weeks ago. Can you release it to her?”

_ “Sure thing Woods, but please realize this means you owe me one.” _

“Anything, anytime, Clarke.”

_ “Good to know. Bye now, see you tomorrow.” _

“I'm looking forward to it. Bye.”

 

_ Thursday, February 25th 5:45pm _

 

“You’ve changed your mind on your outfit like, 29 times, Lexa. Each one of them has been fine. Just mull it over in the shower. You’ll look fine no matter what you pick, I’m sure.” Raven, Lexa’s best friend, is leaning against the door frame to Lexa’s room, attempting to help the girl prepare for her date. ‘Helping’ included sarcastic remarks and eating any snack foods she could find in the kitchen.

“I appreciate your confidence in me, I just don’t have it in myself.”

Raven let out a deep sigh. “Okay. It looks like I have to get mushy, and you know how much I hate getting mushy. Lexa, you are a catch, really. You’re smart, funny, kind, giving, and not to mention smokin’ hot. Just relax. Clarke is great, and she already knows how big of a dork you are, so you are already past the first hurdle.”

“Uh. Thanks. I think?” Her phone buzzed alerting her to a text message. “It’s Clarke.”

 

[Clarke: 5:46pm] So, Detective, what should I be wearing tonight? 

[Lexa: 5:46pm] I am tempted to say nothing and see how far that gets me.

[Clarke: 5:47pm] Not far, Woods. You’ve gotta try harder than that.

[Lexa: 5:47pm] Damn. Well in that case, how about casual, but warm.

[Clarke: 5:47pm] I need warm clothes but you wanted me naked? Rude.

[Lexa: 5:48pm] If you were naked, there is be no way you would be cold. I promise.

[Lexa: 5:48pm] But I digress. I still need your address, beautiful.

[Clarke: 5:50pm] Smooth recovery. 1497 Oak  Lane. See you soon!

 

Lexa turns to Raven with a raised eyebrow. “Oak Lane? That’s the Historical District right? Where did you get chips?”

Raven shrugs in response. “Cupboard. You didn’t even notice I was gone did you?”

“Uhhh….”

“Right, well to answer your question, yes. It is the Historic District. Now, get your ass in the shower. Anya is off in twenty and I am starving.”

Lexa looks at her with an amused grin. “You’re literally eating.”

“Snacking. There is a difference.”

“Okay, okay. Go home to your wife. Thanks for helping. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

_ Meanwhile at the Griffin residence _

 

“O, seriously. Which one?” She holds up two shirts to the camera on the laptop.

“Blue, brings out your eyes, and keep your voice down, he’s finally asleep.”

Clarke drops the chosen shirt on her bed and places the reject back in her closet. “Sorry O. How is he?”

Octavia sighs loudly. “Temp went down and his breathing is less raspy.”

“That’s good. Call me immediately if anything changes okay?” She looks to the younger girl on the screen with concerned eyes.

“Of course. So about this date, where is she taking you?”

Clarke leaves the view of the camera to change her pants. “I don’t know. She just said to dress casual but warm.”

“Oh, that charcoal pea coat you bought a couple weeks ago would be perfect then.”

She comes back into Octavia’s view. “O. You’re a genius. My little evil genius.”

“Awe, thanks princess.”

“Okay, I am going to do my make up and finish getting ready. Seriously though, call me if you need too.”

“Of course, bye Clarke.”

“Bye.”

 

_ 6:54pm _

 

Clarke moves to the door to answer the knock she just heard. She starts whispering a small pep talk to herself. “Okay, Griffin. You can do this. It’s just a date. With Lexa, who is basically a puppy. An adorable dork of a puppy. Oh god. Okay.” She waves her hands nervously, attempting to dry off the thin layer of sweat she is sure is there. She opens the door slowly with a bright smile on her face, that fades quickly when it isn’t Lexa on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Clarke.” Her visitor smiled brightly.

“Niylah, hey. Um, what can I do for you?” She puts a small, friendly smile on as she leans against the open door.

“I wanted to talk to you about possibly doing a commission for my parents 30th anniversary. You know how much they love your work and have a photo I think would look amazing recreated on canvas. I understand you are very busy, but the party isn’t for like four months, so I thought maybe you could be agreeable to it?”

Clarke wants to be polite, she really does, but she sees Lexa’s car pull up and she can’t focus on anything her neighbor and friend is saying. Her entire body is thrumming with excitement. “I think we can work something out, just not tonight, I have plans.” She points to the woman exiting her car. “Why don’t you bring the photo over tomorrow afternoon and we can discuss it further.”

Niylah turned to see Lexa start to make her way up the walkway and smiles brightly. “Of course, sorry for interrupting. Have fun, and see you tomorrow.” She turns to make her way back down the concrete path to the sidewalk and passes Lexa with a bright smirk as she does so.

Lexa is distracted slightly but once she reaches the doorway, she focuses solely on the blonde that is waiting for her. “Clarke. You look, well beautiful feels inadequate, but my brain seems to have forgotten every other word.” The doctor was wearing dark skinny jeans, a dark blue v-neck shirt with three-quarter length sleeves and three buttons down the middle.

“Flattery will get you everywhere Woods. You look great too by the way. Let me grab my coat and we can go.” Lexa steps just inside the door and takes in the living room. The house on the outside was the epitome of the historic district of Polis. A plantation style home, bright white paint, a wrap around porch. However the inside was one of the most modern homes Lexa had ever seen. There is a large grey couch in front of a wall mounted flat screen tv. There is glass inset dark wood coffee table with a matching end table. The middle of the room has a white shaggy area rug, and the walls are adorned with exquisite artwork. Lexa makes her way over to one and stands directly in front of it, studying it intently. She is so engrossed in the painting she doesn't hear Clarke sneak up behind her.

“Ready?”

She jumps nearly out of her skin. “Jesus, Clarke. Warn a girl.”

“Eh, I don’t know if you know this, but I know exactly what to do in case of a heart attack.” She laughs at Lexa’s slight, obviously playful, scowl. “Were you studying my painting?”

The brunette softens her features and turns back to the wall. “Yeah, its beautiful. I like how the artist captured the lighting. That is a struggle for a lot of people, even the really talented ones.”

“Are you some sort of amature art critic?” Clarke quirks a brow.

Lexa turns fully back to her. “No. God no. I took some art appreciation classes in college, so I kind of know what I am talking about once in awhile, but mostly I just like extraordinary things. This artist is extraordinary.”

“Well. Thank you.” Clarke blushes slightly under the scope of Lexa’s complement. She watched as the realization flashed through her date’s eyes.

“You painted this?” She gets a nod of confirmation. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“I am not the best at being punctual, I’m like 50/50. Oh, and rugged outdoorsy stuff is a no go. I usually get hurt somehow.”

“Noted, shall we go?” She offers her arm to the blonde, which is taken quickly. They make their way out of the house and to Lexa’s car. She opens and closes the door for Clarke, then makes her way around to the driver side. She slides into her seat, starts the car and heads off for their first destination.

After about five minutes of comfortable silence, Clarke looks over Lexa. Her posture is rigid, like she is uber focused. “So where are we headed?”

“I made us reservations at Broadleaf. I hope that’s okay.”

“Lexa! We are like way under dressed for that place!”

Lexa chuckles at her date’s response, and glances over at her. “Trust me, we’re not. I don’t know where this reputation of it being some sort of fancy establishment came from, but seriously, you look great and we aren’t under dressed.”

“So you’ve been before?”

“I have. Actually, Anya’s cousin Lincoln owns it. He’s also a good friend of mine too.”

They arrive at the restaurant and Clarke had to admit Lexa was correct about their clothing. They were shown to their table quickly and easily found something to order. Lexa also ordered a bottle of red wine for them to share. The conversation flowed easily, and they were enraptured with each other. 

When the waitress comes over to offer dessert, Lexa politely declines and pays the check. She rises from her seat and begins putting her jacket on before she catched the look of slight disappointment on Clarke’s face. She gets her jacket on all the way then grabs Clarke’s, holding it up for her to help get it on before leaning forward to whisper in her ear.

“Don’t worry, beautiful, I plan a better date than just dinner. Come on.” She leads the blonde out of the restaurant by her hand and walks the opposite direction of her car.

“Where are we going now?”

“There is a little park about a block from here. On Thursday’s they play old movies on a big screen outside. That’s why I told you to dress warm.” They made their way down the block and into the small park. Toward the back of the small field, near a few small trees, Lexa comes to a stop. There is a blanket laid out with a small picnic basket and another thicker blanket folded on top. “Ah, here we are. Thanks Frank!” She yells and waves to an elderly man a few yards away. “Frank is a neighbor of mine. He and his wife Celine come out here every Thursday so I asked him to save us a spot.”

“Well this is great. You’re mighty romantic, Woods.” Clark placed herself in front of the brunette and pulled lightly on the lapels of her jacket.

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet, Doc.”

They take a seat, Lexa with her back against the small tree, allowing for Clarke to sit between her legs and lean back into her chest. The blonde pulls the basket over to them and inspects the contents. “Ah, the three C’s. Cookies, cocoa and caramel corn. Very good choices.”

“I’m glad you approve.” Once they each have a cookie and a cup full of hot chocolate, Clarke throws the blanket over them. The movie begins and they are both extremely comfortable in their current positions. Lexa, feeling a surge of boldness, wraps her arms gently around the blonde and places her chin on the other girl’s shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she gets a glimpse of a bright smile of the doctor’s face. About half way through the movie, Clarke’s phone begins to vibrate, she pulls it out of her pocket and frowns as she sees the caller ID.

“I am really, really sorry, but I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” Lexa releases her and nods an okay. After about ten minutes, she returns and climbs back into her previous position. The brunette can see the distress on her face, so she wraps her arms around her again.

“Everything okay?”

Clarke sighs deeply before answering. “Yeah. We need to talk about something.” She sits forward some, pulling out of Lexa’s grasp and turns to face her. “I haven’t told you something, and it is probably a game changer. I just wanted to get through the date and see if we were compatible, ya know?”

Lexa gives her a concerned look. “Okay. What is it?”

“I, um, I have…” Clarke trails off. “Um…”

“You have a what? Husband? Wife? Eleventh toe? That would be okay. Weird at first I am sure, but okay.”

Clarke just shakes her head smiles somewhat sadly. “A son.”

“Oh.” She thinks about it for a second, trying recall every interaction that she has had with the girl to see if she missed something that would have given her a clue about that. Then she thinks about Clarke’s late hours at the hospital and how she got off work earlier today. A flash of sadness washes over her briefly.

“It’s okay Lex. You didn’t sign up for a girl with a kid, I get it. I had a really great time tonight, so thank you.” Clarke looks down to her hands, disappointedly.

“What! No, I was just thinking about how I am stealing your time with him away. You just got off work this morning, and you work such long shifts.” She reaches over and grabs the blonde’s fidgety hand, and waits until the girl looks up to meet her eyes. “It doesn’t change anything Clarke. I promise.”

“Are you sure, because I understand if-”

“I promise. Can you come back over here now, so we can finish the movie?” The blonde did as she was asked and took her former position. They watch the movie and when it was over, they pack up the blankets into the basket. They hold hands as the made their way to Lexa’s car, bright smiles plastered on both of their faces. They reach the car and Lexa places the items in the trunk.

“I know it’s getting late Lex, but I don’t want this night to end yet.”

“How about a drink then?” She points across the road at a small bar. Clarke nods enthusiastically and sticks out her hand for Lexa to take.

They find a small table after grabbing drinks from the bartender. Lexa slides in the booth, and expects Clarke to slide in the opposite side, but she doesn’t. She slides in next to Lexa and grabs her right arm, putting it around her.

“I like it when you hold me.”

Lexa smiles at her. “Me too, Doc.”

“Aden isn’t home right now. That’s why I said yes to the date tonight. If he was home, I wouldn’t have been able to go out until Sunday, when he visits my parents.”

“I see. Tell me about him. I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just um. I want to know everything about you.” She turns her body slightly to face the blonde better.

Clarke laughs lightly, and Lexa thinks it’s the greatest sound ever. “No, it’s okay. He’s four and so curious and incredibly smart. He’s my everything. Do you want to see a picture?” She gets a quick nod, and pulls out her phone, and shows Lexa a small blonde boy with a toothy grin holding an armful of toys. “This is from Christmas, his birthday was three days before. He was running around yelling ‘double toys!’ when my parents arrived with his gifts.” She smiles fondly at the picture.

“He is very cute. I am sure he’s hilarious too. I have a couple nieces and nephews and they were so funny at that age.”

“He is. He says the craziest things. Two weeks ago I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he said ‘tacos,’ I told him that wasn’t breakfast food, and he said ‘anything is breakfast food, if you believe.’ How do you argue with that?”

“Obviously you don’t and you give him tacos.” They both laugh at the response. “So is he with his dad right now?”

“Um, no. It’s sort of complicated. He isn’t actually mine, he’s adopted.” Somehow, this made so much sense to Lexa. She nods and waits for Clarke to continue. “It’s getting pretty late, how much time do you have?”

“I’m off tomorrow, so as long as you want me.”

The blonde took a sip of her drink before launching into her story. “You know my mom’s a doctor too, cardiothoracic surgeon.” Lexa nods, having met Abby before at Polis General. “I don’t know if you know but she is the best in the country. Well, she was doing her residency when I was five. A couple and their two kids came in after horrific crash. You know the kind I mean, where you look at the wreckage and think there is no way someone survived that. Well the kids suffered minor injuries, but the parents weren’t so lucky. The dad died on impact and the mom, Aurora, she was a fighter but she wasn’t strong enough to overcome the trauma. They both died that night, and the kids had no one else to take them.” She gulps hard and takes a drink. “My mom treated them and she just knew there was a connection there. The girl was only three and her brother was six. My mom moved heaven and earth called in every favor she had, but she brought them home. So I suddenly had a big brother and a little sister.”

“How’d that transition go?”

“Oh, I hated them at first. I was an only child. They still call me princess, so you can only imagine how spoiled I was.” She laughs at herself. “So a similar situation happened with Aden about two years ago. His mother was in an accident and died on impact, he was in the car and suffered some superficial injuries. I was the one that treated him and I just knew. He clung to me like his life depended on it. When we finally reached the grandparents of Annie, his mother, they informed us they were in no place to care for a young child and there was no one else to take him. So I did the same thing my mom did. There was no way I was letting him go. Taking in Octavia and Bellamy was the best thing of my life, so I assumed it would be the same with Aden.”

“Has it been?”

“God, yes. It’s hard, because of the hours I spend at work, but Octavia lives with us and she helps so much. She is about to finish her MSW, but she doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do with it yet. My whole family loves him.”

“That’s good. Really good. What about his father? Did he pass away too?”

“Uh, no. His father is serving a life sentence for aggravated robbery, someone died. He didn’t even know Aden existed. I met him once, when I went to ask him to sign over his paternal rights. He asked me to make sure his son never knows about him and what he did. I told him I will protect Aden from as much as possible, but I won’t hide anything from him.”

“That’s a very wise answer. Children who are adopted or in the system often have things like that in their backgrounds and people avoid the topic instead of telling them about it and assuring them that just because they share that DNA, doesn’t mean they are the same.” 

Clarke narrows her eyes slightly. “You sound like you are speaking from experience.”

Lexa breathes out heavily, because this not something she talks to anyone about. Ever. “Yeah, I was adopted when I was nine after two years being fostered by my parents.” She finishes her drink. “My bio parents were drug addicts, so the state took me away when I was four. The fifth foster family I went to, Mary and Luther Woods, was the complete opposite of my other homes, which I won’t tell you about right now, because we are having a good time.” Clarke frowns and strokes the back of Lexa’s hand with her thumb. “They were older, mid-forties. Their two children, Sean and Amanda, both off in college already. Sean was nineteen and Amanda was eighteen. They were patient, kind, loving and supportive, everything I never had before, so immediately I thought it was too good to be true. I tried rebelling but Mary had one of those looks, still does. It’s the ‘if you don’t behave I swear on the lord almighty you will scrub the bathroom with a toothbrush’ look. After a while I accepted that they actually did care and I started letting them in.They’re my family, and I am lucky to have found them.” Clarke is smiling, ear to ear, then she starts laughing. Lexa smiles at her, but tilts her head in confusion. “What?”

“You’re Lexa. Your dad’s name is Luther and my name is Clarke. I’m telling my dad to change his name to Kent.”

Lexa started laughing too. “Please don’t. That would make us enemies, and I definitely don’t want that.” They both smile and Clarke announced it was time for round two. She got up and Lexa watched her move toward the bar. She came back and slid Lexa her drink, taking her previous position next to her date. “So where is Aden, you said he isn’t home?”

“Oh, right. Bellamy, my brother, just moved stations. He is in the Army. Octavia took Aden to see him before he gets deployed again. It happened so fast, I couldn’t get time off.”

“Ah, I see.” They traded stories on the most interesting things they had seen at work as they finished their second drink. Lexa insisted on drinking a large glass of water before driving, even though she knew she was well below impaired, she just didn’t want the date to be over. 

 

_ 12:13am _

 

They make it back to Clarke’s house, which brings them to their current position, Lexa walking Clarke to her door. “This house is incredible.”

“Yeah, it was built by my like sixth great grandfather. Reginald Winston Griffin.” She announces his name proudly. “Octavia and I redecorated and modernized the inside because it used to feel like living in a museum. All browns and reds and crazy masculine.” Clarke turnes toward the brunette as she reached the door, and used their joined hands to pull her close. “I had a really great time with you tonight. I’m sorry I kind of sprung the Aden thing on you in the middle.”

“That’s more than okay. I had a really great time too.” She steps a fraction of an inch closer and brushes a loose lock of hair behind Clarke’s ear. “I know exactly what to do to make the ending absolutely perfect.”

Clarke looks into her eyes deeply, invitingly. “Oh you do, do you?”

“Yep.” She turns quickly and begins to run toward the street. She hears Clarke laugh and tell her to come back. She returns just as quickly as she ran away. She places she hands on Clarke’s waist, then slides them around, behind her back, pulling her close. “Is that not what you want?”

Clarke put her arms around the taller girl’s shoulders, clasping her hands together behind Lexa’s head. “No, that isn’t. What I want, is for you to kiss me.”

“Now why didn’t I think of that?” She smirks before she slowly leans in and pressed her lips softly to Clarke’s. It’s slow and sweet and innocent and Clarke absolutely loves it. Lexa pulls back slowly and rests her forehead the the blonde’s. “Wow, you have really good ideas.” She brushes their noses together as she leans back in at a different angle and connects their lips again.

 

_ Friday, February 26th 8:45am _

 

Clarke wakes up with a bright smile on her face. Last night couldn't have been more perfect. Lexa, that giant dork, is amazing. She picks up her phone and dials her best friend/sister. It rings four times before she hears Octavia pick up.

_ “Morning, Princess. How was the date?” _

“Spectacular. Just perfect.”

_ “Really? Or are you just saying that because you got laid?” _

“There was no laying done last night O. Just a 10/10 good night kiss.”

_ “Huh. Your voice is so cheery, I would have put money on some lady lovin. Okay, tell me why it was so spectacular.” _

“Well she picked me up and we went to dinner at Broadleaf, I guess she knows the owner. We ate and drank wine, then she refused dessert and paid and got up and I swear O, I thought she was done for the night.”

_ “The words perfect and spectacular never get used to describe a date that is just dinner. So where did she take you next?” _

“We went to Holmes park for movie night. She had someone set us up a blanket and bring us hot cocoa. It was so cute. We cuddled under the blanket while we watched the movie. That's where we were when you called last night.”

_ “Okay, that sounds next level adorable.” _

“Oh. It was. Then we talked about Aden.”

_ “Good talk?” _

“Oh yeah. She's adopted too.”

_ “Shut. Up. Huh, what are the odds?” _

“We went to a bar after, got some drinks and continued talking. I told her about you and Bell, she told me about her story. By the time we finished, I felt like I knew her completely.”

_ “Then she brought you home, made out with you then left you all hot and bothered.” _

“It wasn't like that O. She's such a dork, really. It was just perfect.”

_ “So when is date #2?” _

“Sunday night, if Aden is feeling better. What time does your flight get in tonight?”

_ “9:20 pm.” _

“How's he feeling?”

_ “His fever is almost gone, but he says his head hurts, the cough is still there and his throat is still swollen.” _

“He's going to be miserable on the flight with the pressure. Give him some cough syrup about 30 minutes before take off. Hopefully he'll sleep the whole time.”

_ “Sounds good. I'm going to go make us breakfast. I'll call you from the airport later.” _

“Yeah, okay. Kiss his cheek for me please. See you guys later.”

Clarke lets out a long sigh, sad that her son was sick and over two thousand miles away. It was better knowing that he would be home in a little over twelve hours. Her phone chimed in her hand, alerting her to a text.

 

[Lexa 9:12am] Good morning beautiful. Thanks again for the wonderful night.

[Clarke 9:13am] I had a great time too. Are you going to tell your mom all about it?

[Lexa 9:13am] Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. Depends on if I get the look.

[Clarke 9:14am] Can she teach me this look? I will more than likely need it in the future.

[Lexa 9:15am] Not even date #2 and you are already asking to meet my mom. I thought you said I was going to have to work hard for you Griffin?”

[Clarke 9:16am] I didn't say you would have to work hard to fall for me, just to get me naked.

[Lexa 9:17am] Damn all the truth in that statement.

 

[Niylah 9:18am] hey, I know you said to come by this afternoon, but I was wondering if you have time this morning? I totally spaced a client meeting I have later.

[Clarke 9:19am] Bring me coffee and you have yourself a deal.

 

[Clarke 9:20am] Sorry, I have to go meet with a friend about doing a commission for her.

[Lexa 9:21am] Go, be extraordinary.

 

She peels herself out of bed then brushes her teeth. If the client had been someone other than Niylah, she would probably change out of her sweats. She throws on an oversized sweatshirt and makes her way downstairs. She reaches the landing just as she hears a knock on the front door.

“Hey Niylah, come in please.” She opens the door wide and gestures toward the couch with her arm. Niylah thrusts a coffee toward her as she passes.

“Hey. Sorry about interrupting your morning. I totally forgot about a sales meeting with a huge client.” They both take a seat and Clarke takes a big swig of coffee.

“It's not a problem. So, you want me to do an  recreation of a photograph?”

“Yeah. Here it is.” She produces the picture and hands it to the artist.

“It's a beautiful photo. I am guessing it has some meaning?” The photo in question was of a large oak tree in a field. It has a rope swing dangling from the lowest branch. In the foreground there is a wooden slat fence and a small dirt road. The coloring was vibrant even though it was an old photo.

“Oh yes. My parents lived in a small town when they were growing up. This tree was half way between their homes and they would meet there every day. Their initials are carved in the backside of the tree and in between the two ropes on that large branch. They say that tree is a metaphor for a strong relationship, you have to meet in the middle and sometimes one of you might need a push.”

“Okay that officially the cutest thing ever. I'll do it, but I refuse to charge you for the commission, just supplies. Shouldn't be that much. How big did you want it? I am thinking 36x48.”

“You're the artist, I trust you. So, how was your date? She was hot.”

 

_ Meanwhile at the Reyes-Forrester residence _

 

“Rae, did you know Clarke has a kid?” Anya and Lexa just returned from a morning run and Raven is cooking breakfast as Lexa unceremoniously flops onto one of the bar stools at the kitchen island.

“A kid? There is absolutely no way that body has birthed a child.” She flips over the bacon then cracks an egg into a pan.

Lexa chuckles. “Well you're right, he’s adopted. But really, you didn't know?”

“No, I didn't know that. Look I'm friendly with her but she and I work on literal opposite sides of the hospital. We don't work close together, ya know? Is that a deal breaker for you though?” She points her spatula at Lexa as of to enunciate the question.

“No. She could potentially tell me she killed a man in cold blood and show me where she buried the body and I don't think it would be a deal breaker.” Lexa laughed. “I told her about being adopted, a little about my bios.”

Raven's jaw dropped. “You did what now?”

Anya rejoins them in the kitchen. “I know babe, isn't it great? Our little Lexa is growing up and having real feelings.”

“Well damn.”

 

_ 7:15pm _

 

Lexa enters her parents home through the kitchen entrance, and is greeted by them aroma of her mother’s infamous pot roast. She heads straight for the oven, opening it slightly to take a better whiff.

“OoOo. I’m telling grandma you opened the oven.” Lexa whipped around to the voice of her niece.

“You would rat out your favorite aunt?” She clutched her heart over her chest and feigned hurt.

The black haired, green eyed nine year old rolls her eyes. “I should have never told you that. You always use it against me.”

“Yeah, well, I could have said ‘if you rat me out I’ll make you pay at karate practice tomorrow morning’ but I didn’t.”

The child’s eyes go wide. “You’re right. Best Aunt ever. I would never rat you out.”

“Good to hear, Soph. Where is everyone else?”

“Living room. Grandma told them you had a date, so they are plotting all of their questions for you.” Lexa groans loudly and mutters something that sounds like ‘wonderful.’ She moves out of the kitchen and toward the living room, just as she steps into the open space her legs are immediately wrapped in a hug.

“Oof. Hey LJ.” She picks up the sandy haired two year old and walks toward her brother. “Sean, thanks for the heads up on the family gathering. Can I guess what it’s about?”

He greets his sister with a bright smile. “I’ll give you $20 if you can.”

“Steph is pregnant again.” She points to his wife then turns her palm up waiting for her prize money and smiles as his jaw drops.

“How did you know?” The dumbfounded look doesn’t leave his face. He takes out is wallet and hands over the promised bill.

Lexa laughs and so does the rest of the family.“Sean, please. I am a detective. Plus, we went out for drinks last week. She complained about being tired, not feeling great, and she didn’t have a drop of alcohol. So Steph, when are you due?”

Stephanie made her way over to her husband and rubbed his back in consolation. Sophia was basically a mini version of her mother. They had the exact same eyes and jet black hair. “Mid-August. So summer is going to be rough.” Amanda and her husband made their way into the living room to join the conversation. 

“Maggie and LJ were both summer babies. You got lucky with Sophia and Liam being born in the winter. Chris nearly had to buy stock in ice cream and portable misters for me. Hey Lexa.” Amanda made her way to hug her. They may be years apart but Amanda and Sean both treated Lexa like a real sister. “So, I hear you had a date last night. Who, where, what happened? I need a recap.”

“Can we talk about it over dinner. I am starving.” Everyone murmurs their agreement. Lexa puts LJ down to give her mom and dad a proper hug. Once seated at the table, LJ found his way back to her lap. She is completely fine with how cuddly he always is with her. They pass around dishes of food, like a family would on Thanksgiving. Lexa often stops in these moments to take in the sight. She was so incredibly lucky to have been taken in and accepted into this family. She kisses LJ on the top of his head and he looks up at her. She feels a small hand pat her chest. 

“So, where did you meet this girl?”

Chris and Sean both yell out ‘Tinder’ at the same time and Lexa shakes her head and smiles at their antics. “No, I met her at work.”

“Hot perp? I didn’t take you for the type.” Stephanie jokes.

Lexa rolls her eyes. “1. I am not the type. 2. She is a ER doctor at Polis General. Her name is Clarke Griffin, she’s 27, has a brother and sister who are adopted, and a four year old. Also adopted.” Everyone stares at her, slack jawed briefly. “What?”

Mary speaks for the first time since they all sat down. “Jesus Lexa, you found a grown woman. Not one of those girls you usually settle for.”

 

_ 9:25pm _

 

Waiting at the bottom of the large escalator, Clarke finally spots Octavia. She is somehow carrying a sleeping Aden and lugging their three bags. When she finally reaches the bottom Clarke runs over to help. 

“Hey, O. Which do you want me to take?”

“The portable space heater.” Clarke peels the sleeping boy off of her sister and hugs him tightly to her body.

“I thought you said his fever was gone?”

“It had. It shot up on the plane. I’m exhausted, seriously that was a work out.”

“Okay, let's get you guys home.” The trip from the airport went rather quickly, being that there was no traffic in Polis at night. Aden stayed asleep the whole way and Clarke was convinced Octavia nodded off too, but the younger girl denied it. Once they were home, Clarke insisted her sister take a bath and go to bed. She placed Aden in her own bed and then brought in the luggage. She woke Aden briefly to give him another dose of medicine.

He looks at her with sleepy eyes. “Mommy! I missed you.”

“I missed you too, little man. So much. I need you to drink this, it will help you feel better.” He nods and takes the liquid with a wince.

“My froat hurts.” He pats his neck to show her where.

“Okay buddy, we’ll go see Dr. Scott tomorrow okay. Get you the good stuff.” He nods then burrows his head in her chest, drifting off quickly.

 

[Lexa 10:24pm] My mom has agreed to teach you the look. I’m terrified.

[Clarke 10:25pm] You should be.

[Clarke 10:25pm] Did she have to use it to get you to talk about our date?

[Lexa 10:26pm] She used something stronger. Sibling power.

[Lexa 10:26pm] They were all there, my brother thought it was going to be some big surprise that his wife is pregnant.

[Clarke 10:28pm] He knows you’re a detective, right?

[Lexa 10:29pm] I think it slipped his mind. Did Aden and Octavia get home alright?

[Clarke 10:31pm] They did, Aden still isn’t feeling well though. He’s asleep on my chest right now.

[Lexa 10:32pm] Lucky.

[Clarke 10:33pm] I just rolled my eyes so hard, my sick kid almost woke up.

[Lexa 10:34pm] How do you know I was talking about him? I may have very well have been saying that you are lucky. I, for one, love when LJ snuggles me. I think that means you have a dirty mind, Doc.

[Clarke 10:34pm] Nice try, but you totally weren’t.

[Lexa 10:35pm] I totally wasn’t.

[Clarke 10:36pm] I’m going to head to bed now, I need to take him to the pediatrician in the morning. Night, Lex.

[Lexa 10:37pm] Goodnight beautiful. Let me know if you need anything.


	2. Super Sleuth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one got away from me and went a little Law and Order- ish
> 
> brief, non graphic descriptions of a violent crime scene.

_ Saturday, February 27th 8:25am _

 

[Lexa 8:25am] Please, tell me if I am being an idiot or something, but why do you have to take Aden to a doctor when you are one?

[Lexa 8:25am] Also, good morning beautiful.

[Clarke 8:41am] I know exactly what he needs, but I shouldn’t write my own son a prescription. Ethics and such. We're on our way in now actually.

 

“Aunt Lexa, how much longer til Maggie can do karate with us”

Lexa looked up from her phone to her niece. “How old were you when I said it was okay, Sophia?”

“7.” She stated matter-of-factly.

“And how old was Liam?”

“He just started, and he's 7 too.”

“So, how old do you think Maggie needs to be?”

Sophia huffs a sigh. “7. So two more years and she can?”

“If she wants to, It has to be her choice. Come on, let's go stretch and warm up.”

 

[Lexa 10:56am] I'd wish you luck or something, but I am really hoping you aren't still there.

[Clarke 11:01am] Just got home actually. Got everything I need for a healthy kid. What are your plans for today?

[Lexa 11:03am] My shift starts at noon. Drawback of getting Friday's off. I have to work the late shift Saturday. Which usually runs into late morning Sunday.

[Clarke 11:04am] That's quite the drawback.

[Lexa 11:10 am] It is, and I somehow got swindled into watching all my nieces and nephews Monday night so their parents could all go to some fundraiser for the school. Pray for me.

[Clarke 11:22am] How many and how old?

[Lexa 11:23am] Sophia, 9. Liam, 7. Maggie, 5. And LJ, 2.

[Clarke 11:32am] At least you’ll get some quality cuddle time.

[Lexa 11:45am] True. Gotta go, beautiful. Duty calls.

[Clarke 11:46am] Be careful out there.

 

Octavia joins Clarke in the kitchen, where she is making soup for Aden’s lunch. “So, sis. I see that smile. What’s this Lexa like?”

“How do you know I am smiling because of Lexa?”

The brunette scoffs loudly. “Not only am I your sister. I’m your best friend, Clarke. Do I need to explain my deductive reasoning to you.”

Clarke ponders for a second, playfully. “Hmm. I guess you’re right. Here, just read the messages between us. Then ask me whatever you need.” Octavia takes the phone and scrolls all the way to the beginning of their conversation. It takes her a few minutes to read through everything, when she is done she places the phone on the counter.

“Okay. I have a couple questions. First, what exactly did she say when you told her about Aden?”

Clarke sighs and leans forward on the counter, lazily stirring the soup. “At first, she looked surprised, then sad. I immediately started telling her I know it’s a deal breaker for some people but she said she was just thinking about how much I work and that she felt guilty for stealing my time with him.”

Octavia raised her eyebrow at the answer. “Wow. Alright, secondly, how long are you going to wait to introduce her to Aden? You haven’t been in a relationship since Finn, and Aden doesn’t remember that.”

“I haven’t put a specific time frame on it. I just know it won’t be until I am absolutely sure that we’re going to be a couple and not just a passing thing.” She shrugs slightly.

“Look at you speaking in futures before the second date.”

Both girls laugh. “You asked. Speaking of that second date, do you think it would be awful of me to postpone it since Aden is sick? I don’t think I should send him to Mom and Dad’s if he is still like this tomorrow.”

The younger girl grabs a banana and begins to peel it. “I think that is one of the few valid reasons for postponing. Just make it clear you aren’t cancelling.”

“Good advice. Hey, how is Bell? I came to talk to you about the trip last night, but you were already passed out.”

Octavia sighs deeply. Just as she is going to respond, a small voice interrupts. “Mommy.” Aden pulls on the hem of Clarke shirt, she picks him up and he puts his head down on her shoulder. “Wunch time?”

She places a small kiss to his forehead. “Yeah, little man, lunch time. I made you some soup.”

He wraps his arms around her neck and lets out a deep sigh. “Hey, after lunch I think we should watch Cars. How does that sound?”

“Okay, mommy.” He sighs again and drops his head down on her shoulder. Octavia juts her bottom lip out as if to say ‘poor baby.’ Clarke rubs his back then spoons some soup into a bowl. She walks him over to the table and sets him in a chair, kisses his head and tells him to eat his lunch, then returns to her sister.

“Bell is good. He is not looking forward to deployment, but we all knew that. I think that he is seeing someone, but I couldn’t get him to admit it.”

“Why would he hide that?”

The brunette only shrugs in response.

 

[Clarke 12:12am] Would you hate me if I had to postpone our date tonight?

[Lexa 12:14am] I won’t lie and say I’m not disappointed, but you have a sick kid. I understand.

[Clarke 12:15am] Can I call you?

_ Lexa Calling….. _

“Hey Lex.”

_ “Hey beautiful.” _

“Lex, I feel really bad about postponing, but Aden -”

_ “Hey, it’s okay. I told you I understand. No matter what, he comes first.” _

“I appreciate that, but your feelings matter too.”

_ “My feelings are completely fine. I promise. What are you still doing up at this hour?” _

“Sick kid equals little sleep. Are you having a good night?”

_ “I’m actually on my way to a crime scene. It had been uneventful until about an hour ago.” _

“I should let you go then.”

_ “I have a few more minutes. You’re a very welcome distraction from what I am about to see.” _

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

_ “Yeah, it’s not good, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. You mentioned doing a commission for a friend the other day. What’s that about?” _

“Her parents are having their thirtieth wedding anniversary. She asked me to recreate a very meaningful photo for them with oils. They are big supporters of my work, so I am more than happy to do it.”

_ “If it’s anywhere near the quality of the one in your living room, they are in for a treat.” _

“Thanks, Lexa.”

_ “No problem Doc. Okay, I’m pulling up now, unfortunately I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, okay beautiful?” _

“Okay, bye Lex.”

 

“Clarke, are you still up?” Octavia poked her head into Clarke’s room finding the blonde leaning on the door frame between the en suite bathroom and the bedroom, watching Aden sleep soundly.

“Yeah, O. Come in.”

She moved through the room to come to a stop in front of her sister. “You talk to Lexa?”

“Yeah, just now actually, she was incredibly understanding.” Clarke gives her a small smile.

“Well, she has nieces and nephews. It’s not exactly the same as having a kid, but it does help you be more understanding.” She shrugs. “Are you still down for brunch with the parents?”

The blonde sighs. “Yeah, as long as he feels a little better.”

 

_ 413 Willow Wisp Lane - Crime Scene _

 

Lexa exits her car and quickly makes her way toward the house. She flashes her badge to the officer at the taped off perimeter, and spots Anya near the front door.

“Detective Forrester, what do we have?”

“Woods. Hey, we’ve got a B&E with one DB, one vic is at General with a nasty head wound.” Anya explained.

“Either one the perp?”

“Come on Woods, you think they would have called us it it was that easy? Follow me, I'll show you what I've found so far.” Anya leads her into the house and toward the kitchen. She points to the door that leads to the back yard. “Sign of forced entry, looks like the lock was pried open. I'm thinking crowbar.”

Lexa pulls out her flashlight and shines it on the door jamb, then on the door itself. “Has this already been photographed?”

Anya shrugs and yells a name deeper into the house. “I was talking to the neighbor that called 911. I haven't been in here directing the scene. That was Kane, he lives just down the block I guess. He left just before you got here.”

Lexa doesn’t get a chance to respond before Zoe Monroe is next to her, answering Anya’s call. “Forrester, Woods, what can I do for you?”

“Hey Monroe. Did someone get this yet?” Lexa pointed to the door jamb as she spoke.

“Not yet. We have everyone focused on the living room, hallway and the bedroom.

“Okay, get someone over here ASAP. There are fibers in the splintered wood. My guess it’s from the perp.” Monroe nods and moves to get someone to follow Lexa’s instruction. “Who uses a crowbar to break in in the middle of the night? It’s so loud.”

“That’s one reason why I don’t think this was a simple B&E gone wrong. Come on, I’ll show you.” They make their way to the living room and Lexa surveys the scene. Ransacked would be one word to describe it, another would be destroyed. The coffee table and TV are both smashed, the couch is flipped onto its back, and both standing lamps in the room are tipped over as well. “Okay, so I think the noise of the door being jimmied open alerted the homeowners. Mr. Collins came out to investigate and a struggle ensued. At some point, he attempted to move back to the bedroom, probably when he realised it wasn’t a fight he could win.” Anya moved into the hallway as she explained her theory. “This is where Mr. Collins was when EMS got here, he’s at General now. The blow to his head was significant, and more than likely made with the same crowbar that was used on the door. After Mr. Collins was neutralized, the perp made his way into the bedroom and attacked Mrs. Collins. She has similar head wounds, but she didn’t make it, she was DOA.” They walk into the room carefully avoiding the various bloody footprints and spatter. Lexa moves around the bedroom taking in everything. She makes notes on the placement of the body along with various other items in the room. They spend the next 6 hours looking at everything single thing in the house and instructing the crime scene team on what to take additional pictures of.

“Hey Ahn. Any word from General on Mr. Collins condition?”

Anya strides up next to her. “He’s got a brain bleed so they have him medically under. Just until the swelling goes down. The son, Finn, is there. I have Ryder questioning him and getting contact information.”

“Good. So, I think I have a good picture of what happened here, and I mostly agree with your initial assessment.”

Anya eyes her curiously. “Mostly?”   
“Yeah, I don’t think it was a random B&E either, there doesn’t seem to be anything missing. But there were two perps.”

The older woman crosses her arms across her chest. “Two? You think I missed a whole perp.”

“No need to get defensive Ahn.” Lexa mirrors Anya’s position and drops her shoulder some. “I would have missed it too if I hadn’t been hovering over the scene techs as they were taking pictures of the foot prints. One set is a twelve, one is a twelve and a half.”

“Shit.” Anya drops her arms to her side. “So, Mr. Collins was probably trying to get to the second perp who went for the wife. That’s how he ended up in the hallway and why Mrs. Collins didn’t call 911.”

Lexa nods to her sightly. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

“Detectives, looks like we may have found the weapons. In a dumpster two blocks over on Winter Glen.”

“Thanks Tristan. Come on Woods, let’s go check it out.”

 

_ Sunday, February 28th 11:30am _

 

“Jake, honey, can you take Aden into the kitchen for a minute?” Abby and Jake had just finished greeting both of their daughters and grandson. Clarke and Octavia eye their mother curiously as their father takes the boy away.

“Okay, spill.” Octavia demands softly.

Abby sighs out deeply. “I was at the hospital until about two this morning. Toward the end of the night, we had an ambo bring in a victim of a home invasion with a severe head wound. The EMT said the other home occupant was DOA. The guy they brought in was Thomas Collins.” Both girls look to her with wide eyes. “Clarke honey, I know what happened between you and Finn was painful, but it was awhile ago, and until that point he was your brothers best friend. We all knew his family well. I just thought maybe you guys would want to know.”

Clarke mulled over the information. “Wait. What time was it when he came in?”

“About eleven forty five, why?”

Clarke looked to her sister. “I think Lexa may have caught that case.” 

Abby furrows her brow in thought. “Lexa as in Detective Lexa Woods?” Clarke and Octavia both nod in agreement. “How would you know that?”

“I talked to her last night just after midnight and she said she was headed to a crime scene.” Abby still looks confused. “We were supposed to go on a date tonight, but Aden is sick. I was calling to postpone.”

Abby’s eyes widened. “You and Lexa? How long has that been going on?”

“Hold on Mom, I’ll go get Dad and you can both get all your questions answered while I entertain Aden.” Octavia pops up off the couch quickly and moves toward the kitchen, as Clarke lets out an exasperated sigh.

 

[Clarke 11:59am] Heads up, my mom knows about our date.

 

Jake joins them in the living room, taking a seat next to Abby. “So what happened?”

“I went on a date with a detective that I met at the hospital. Her name is Lexa Woods, she is incredibly kind, funny, smart and beautiful. The date was perfect, she knows about Aden, and she was a complete gentlewoman. Does that cover all of your questions?”

Jake furrowed his brow slightly in confusion. “How long have you known her? You haven't been on a date in a while, so you must already know you like her.”

“I do like her. I met her about 7 months ago, when she transferred from Arkadia. We have a couple mutual acquaintances and we went to a bonfire last Friday, and that was the first time we hung out really.”

“Your date was when?” Abby asked softly.

“Thursday night. Trust me guys, I am going to take this slow. She won't be meeting Aden until I am sure it's okay. I promise, she isn't the same as Finn.” She looked both of them in the eye to let them know she was serious.

“Honey, as long as you and Aden are safe, happy and healthy, that's all that matters.” Abby placed a soft hand on her knee for a moment. “Okay, let's eat. I'm starving.”

 

[Lexa 4:22pm] My apologies beautiful, my head hit the pillow just before you sent me that message.

[Lexa 4:22pm] Should I be worried about the eldest Dr. Griffin on my next trip to the hospital?

[Clarke 4:23pm] At least doctors get naps when we work that long. Do you cops get to nap? And she may corner you with some mom talk or something, just don’t let her smell fear.

[Lexa 4:25] No naps, unfortunately. I'll make sure to stay cool and collected when I head to the hospital. Do you work tomorrow?

[Clarke 4:31] I do. Mon, Weds, Fri I work 6am-6pm. Every other Saturday I work 6pm-6am on Sunday.

[Lexa 4:33pm] That's a pretty sweet schedule, Doc. Does it change often?

[Clarke 4:34pm] Not really. It was a little different last week because my boss was on vacation at the beginning of the week so I basically lived there from last Saturday to Thursday morning. If Aden had been home I would have said no.

[Lexa 4:35pm] He comes first.

[Clarke 4:37pm] He does. What are you doing right now?

[Lexa 4:38pm] Getting ready to head back to the office.

_ Clarke calling… _

“Hey beautiful.”

_ “You better be joking.” _

“I would never joke about your beauty, Clarke.”

_ “Not that. I know you think I am beautiful, you're charming. I meant you better not really be headed back to the office. You need sleep Lexa.” _

“Sorry to disappoint, beautiful. But we have a murder to solve. You know that saying about the first 48 hours?”

_ “Yeah, I do.” _

“Well, it's a real thing. They've doubled us up to get this solved asap, so Anya and I each have an additional officer helping us out. I'll make him drive so we are safe, okay?”

_ “Okay, just please be careful.” _

“I will be. So, when is the next time I can see you?”

_ “Um, well, my parents asked to take Aden to some zoo night exhibition thing on Tuesday. Would you be able to do that?” _

“I can make Tuesday work. Okay, I hate to cut this short, but I need to shower. I'll talk to you later beautiful.”

_ “Bye, Lex.” _

“Bye, Clarke.”

 

_ Monday, February 29th 9:43am _

 

Lexa is standing in front of the case board at Polis PD headquarters. Anya, Ryder and Caris each seated at the table behind her, staring at her back.

“So, here is what we know. Two perps forcibly entered the Collins residence around 11:20 pm through the kitchen door. What we assume is Mr. Collins confronted them, one attacked him while the other went for Mrs. Collins. Both attackers used their crowbars to strike the couple about the head. After incapacitating them, the duo fled the scene and dumped the weapons in a trash can on Winter Glen.” Lexa turns to the table, and picks up a folder, just as Anya’s phone begins to ring. “DNA from the weapons have been sent to the lab, as well as fibers from the door jamb and the plethora of fingerprints collected. Ryder, what did the son give you?”

“Not much. Just that his parents were nice people, comfortable but not rich. He was kind of shifty, but I am not sure if that was situational or if he was hiding something else.”

“Okay, get him back down here this afternoon for Anya and I to talk to him.”

Anya interjected. “Lexa, Mr. Collins is awake.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarke Griffin - 28 years old  
> Octavia Griffin - 26 years old  
> Aden Griffin - 4 years old
> 
> Lexa Woods - 27 Years old  
> Sean Woods (Lexa's brother) - 39 years old  
> Stephanie Woods - 36 years old  
> Sophia Woods - 9 years old  
> Liam Woods - 7 years old  
> (baby on the way)  
> Amanda Sullivan (Lexa's sister) - 38 years old  
> Chris Sullivan - 34 years old  
> Maggie Sullivan - 5  
> Luther James Sullivan (LJ) - 2


	3. Solve the Crime, Get the Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title says it all.
> 
> This was originally two chapters, but I am feeling generous.

_ Polis General Hospital 10:30am _

 

“Hey, Harper. We are looking for Mr. Thomas Collins, brought in late Saturday night with a head wound.” Anya is standing in front of the emergency room nurses station, with Lexa right behind her. “Also, is Dr. Griffin around? Either one really.” Lexa nudges her arm. “What, either you are sweet and considerate, or you butter up momma bear. It's a win-win.”

Clarke comes to a stop right behind Lexa before making her presence known. “Did I hear someone looking for a Griffin?”

Lexa nearly jumps out of her skin. “Sweet Jesus, Clarke. What did I tell you about that?”

The blonde chuckles and shrugs. “What did I tell you? So what brings you ladies down here on this fine Monday morning?”

“Our victim from Saturday night is awake.” Anya states simply.

Clarke’s eyes widen slightly. “You guys are on the Collins case?” The detectives both nod. She looks to Lexa before she continues. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?” Lexa nods and motions for her to lead the way, leaving Anya standing at the nurses desk. They make their way into the nearest stairwell. “Thirsty?” Clarke jokes as she points to the two coffee cups in her hands.

“What? Oh, no. One of these is for you, I know how shit the coffee is here.” She hands over a cup to Clarke.

“Well thank you. You look tired.” Concerned blue eyes bored into exhausted green ones. “Have you slept since we talked yesterday?” She reaches up to cup Lexa’s face and strokes her thumb across the detective’s cheek. A shake of Lexa’s head confirms her suspicions. “Lex…”

Lexa doesn't respond verbally, she takes the cup back out of Clarke's hand and places both coffees on the floor near the door. The blonde eyes her curiously, not sure what she is doing. She turns back to the doctor and takes her position back in front of her, only this time she steps closer. She slowly leans in, until she can feel hot puffs of air on her lips. “I can't take being around you now that I know how good it feels to kiss you.” She waits, allowing Clarke to be the one to lean in and close the final inch of space between them, which she does. The blonde presses her body fully against the brunette and Lexa’s hands quickly sneak around Clarke's waist. The doctor buries one hand in brown locks and the other on the back of the taller girl's neck. Lexa allows Clarke to control the kiss, absolutely no fight for dominance, because she is simply too tired. After a few moments, Clarke bits into Lexa’s soft bottom lip and elicits a groan from the brunette. She immediately starts to pull back from the doctor and Clarke is slightly concerned.

“Did that hurt? I didn't mean to hurt you.” She gently reaches up and swipes her thumb gingerly over the detectives puffy lower lip.

“Hurt? Hell no. It was sexy as hell. But we are in a stairwell and we're both on duty. You doing that to me is only going to lead to one or both of us getting fired.”

“Lip biting, noted.”

Lexa’s face slowly shifted into a smirk. “So was this what you meant when you asked to speak in private or…”

“Oh right. Um, I just thought you needed to know a few things.” Clarke looked at her nervously, only to find complete focus and attention coming from the brunette. “Finn Collins, Thomas and Wendy Collins’ son, we sort of grew up together. Also, I used to date him. It started about five months before I adopted Aden, he was sweet at first, really sweet. Then I brought Aden home and he started getting sort of possessive of me and jealous, I guess, of Aden. He called Aden his son once, and I told him it wasn’t cool with me and he got pissed.” Her gaze had drifted to her hands as she spoke, she looks up again to see something that looks like disappointment or maybe anger flash through Lexa’s eyes, but she was sure it wasn’t directed at her. “One day I was leaving here and two guys approached me in the parking lot. They told me that I need to have Finn contact their boss, Charles Pike about the money he owed. I told them I would relay the message as I kicked his ass to the curb, so they didn’t need to bother me again. Thankfully they didn’t. I called my dad and he made me get a protective order against Finn, to keep him away from me and Aden. I guess what I am trying to say is, you may want to look into what Finn has been up to. This could have been about him.”

Lexa gazes at her for a second. “Thank you for telling me Clarke.” She leans in and places a soft kiss to the blonde’s forehead. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Clarke sighs deeply. “It was a long time ago, but honestly, it’s kind of why I have been so against dating.”

“Thank you for trusting me. I promise to never let something like that happen to you again.” The doctor doesn’t respond verbally, she just wraps her arms around Lexa’s waist and tucks her head into the taller girl’s neck. “I am really looking forward to tomorrow night.” She gets a nod into her neck and a mumbled ‘me too.’ They stand there embracing, for a few more seconds, until Clarke’s pager goes off. “I better go see my victim while you take care of that.” They walk back to the nurses station together, and Harper informs Clarke that a recurring patient who refuses care from anyone but Clarke is waiting for her. 

Anya eyes her suspiciously. “Ready Woods? Harper gave me Collins’ location.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” They make their way to the elevator, as they stand in front of it, Lexa looks around, to make sure they are alone. “Clarke used to date the Collins’ boy. She says she broke it off because two thugs came and used her to pass a message to him about oweing their boss some money.”

“Shit. Same two thugs that did this maybe? This could be a really good lead.”

“Possibly. Guess who their boss is.”

Anya narrows her eyes. “Roan White?”

“Bigger.” The elevator opens and they step inside.

The older woman scratches her head. “Titus King?”

“Nope.” Lexa pops the ‘p’ especially hard. “Bigger.”

“Fucking hell Lexa. Pike?” The brunette nods. “Are you fucking kidding me? Shit, we have to call Kane immediately.”

“Let’s go talk to Collins senior and see if he has any information that’s useful. I don’t want to involve Clarke if we can avoid it. She mentioned a protective order, let’s have Caris pull that before we meet with Finn later.”

“Okay, I am okay with all of that. Oh, the older wiser Dr. Griffin is overseeing Mr. Collins care today, so be cool.” Anya stops as they reach the room she was told is Thomas Collins’. 

“Shit. Yeah, okay.”

 

_ 11:01am in the ER _

 

“Hi, Mr. Cooper. Nice to see you again.”

The old man faced her with a bright smile. “Ah, finally a professional. Hello Dr. Griffin.” 

“Hey Chuck. So you came in and told my colleague you are having severe hip pain. Which hip is it?”

“My right dear. It’s a shooting pain when move it.”

“Well, I think the best place to start is an X-ray. Have you been having this pain for long?” She checks his vitals as she asks her questions.

“Well, yes and no. It’s been a little troublesome for a while but the last week it has gotten a lot worse.”

“Well Chuck, I have a hunch it’s just a bone spur, but let's see what the x-ray tells us okay. Go ahead and sit tight while I get you a wheelchair.” Clarke leaves the room and heads back to the nurses desk. She begins making notes in his chart as she waits for the lead nurse to finish her conversation. “Hey Harper, can you call an x-ray tech for Mr. Cooper?”

“Sure thing Clarke.” She made the phone call to radiology and then quickly looked to Clarke again. “Hey, what’s up with you and Detective Woods?”

“Um, nothing.” She can feel her face warming with a slight blush. “Why?”

“Sure, nothing. That shade of crimson you are wearing totally means nothing.”

She blushed harder. “Whatever Harper.”

 

_ 2:15pm Polis PD interrogation room 2. _

 

“What I need to know Mr. Collins, is why someone would attack your parents. I think you have information that could help us, but you are too much of a coward to say anything.” Anya has taken the role of bad cop in this questioning.

Finn shrugs and runs his hands through his hair. “Why would I know anything?”

“I know you have ties to Charles Pike. This wouldn’t be the first time he used someone you love to send you a message would it? So what does he want from you Finn.” She snaps.

“Look, I have no idea who or what you are talking about.”

Anya glares at him. “Really, Mr. Collins. You have no idea who I am talking about? I could pull a fifth grader out of Tondisi Middle that could give me a biography of Charles Pike. He’s Polis’ El Chapo. Don’t test me.” Finn just sits quietly.

_ “Re-establish emotional connection to the victim.”  _ Lexa says into the headset from the other side of the one way mirror.

“Your parents' neighbors say that you and your mother were very close. They said you came over every Sunday to help your dad with the yard or whatever your parents needed, and when they asked you why you do it you said because it makes her happy.” She reaches for the file folder on the desk. “I have also heard that, as her only son, she bailed you out of everything. From schoolyard tussles to the drunk tank, she always had your back. Is that true Finn?”   
“Yeah. That’s all true.” She looks down at the table with sad eyes.

_ “Show him the picture. I’m headed in.” _

“So if that is true, how do you think she would feel if she were to know that you would allow this to happen to her.” She slides a picture from the crime scene of his mother’s body. His mouth drops and he reaches out to touch the photo as tears slide down his cheeks.

The door swings open. “Detective Forrester, what in the world do you think you are doing? You shouldn’t be showing him that, it's his mother, for christ's sake.”

“Woods, leave it. I’ve got this.”

Lexa levels a glare at Anya. “Out. Now.” She moves from the doorway allowing a pissed off looking Anya to pass and takes a seat in front of Finn. “I apologize for that Mr. Collins. You shouldn’t have seen this.” She picks the picture up and places it inside the folder. “I want to make something clear Mr. Collins, I don’t think you are responsible in any way for your mother’s death or your father’s injury. I do however need some clarification on some things, and I was hoping you would be willing to help me out?” He nods in agreement.

_ “Okay Lexa, lead with the protective order.”  _

“So, I looked into your past. Standard procedure in a case like this, to look into the immediate family, and I found some minor things. Nothing we all haven’t done at some point or another. A drunk and disorderly, a disturbing the peace, nothing real serious with those things. However, one thing stuck out, a protective order issued about two years ago. Now, I can tell you how this looks, but I think you already know. I’ll give you the opportunity to explain yourself on that if you want.”

He looks scared, she can tell he is trying to figure out how to explain it without bringing in the threat from Pike’s men. “I, uh, my girlfriend was kind of crazy. She blew something way out of proportion and her dad convinced her to get a protective order. I’m not violent or dangerous.”

Lexa clenches her jaw tightly at Finn calling Clarke crazy. “Mr. Collins, I have the notes from the officer that took Dr. Griffin’s statement. She claimed she was threatened by two men claiming you owed their boss, Charles Pike, a large sum of money.” His eyes go wide, not knowing Clarke had all of that information, it hadn't been in the copies of the paperwork he was served with. “Look, Mr. Collins, gambling and drug rings aren’t what is under investigation here. I am not trying to put you away. I am attempting to make sure the people responsible for taking this away from you...” She slides a picture of his mother and father she took from a photo album at the house, over to him. “See the inside of a jail cell.” He studies the pictures of his parents and tears start to form in his eyes as his lip trembles slightly.

_ “Shit Lexa he’s about to sing like a canary. Organized crime is here too, they want you to get everything you can before they take over.” _

Finn brushes his fingers over his mother’s picture. “I paid Pike so he wouldn’t hurt Clarke, but she broke up with me anyway. She didn’t believe I loved her, she said I put her and that kid at risk. I was there before him, we were together before him, I don’t see how she could pick him over me.”

“Let’s focus on Pike here Finn. Dr. Griffin doesn’t seem to be involved anymore.” She really doesn’t want to hear him bad mouth Clarke or say insensitive things about Aden. “Why did you owe Pike money in the first place?”

He tears his gaze away from the picture. “I was selling molly. I went to a party and way under charged, he heard about it and was pissed. Made me move some coke for him to earn the profit back, but it got seized. I realized it was gonna happen and took off before it did, so I didn’t get busted, but I lost the load.” He sighs, sits back in his chair and rubs his face. “After he threatened Clarke I paid him back. It’s been fine for the past two years, but last week I…Fuck… Last week he was getting a large shipment and Vice picked it up. He was convinced one of us ratted him out. I was the only one that no one could vouch for, so he assumed it was me. It wasn’t though, I didn’t do it. He told me that I fucked with something he loves, his business, so he was going to teach me a lesson. So I guess he sent Williams and Richards, his two right hand thugs, to hurt them.” He taps his fingers in the picture. “He called me this morning and said we were even now. I swear I didn’t know it come to this. I love my family.” He fell into a complete full body sob.

Lexa is internally fist pumping she got everything the Organized Crime Unit would need. “Alright Mr. Collins. I wholeheartedly believe that. I’m going to step out and give you a moment, when I come back in, I’ll need you to write all of that down, okay?”

His head jerked up. “You guys are going to protect me and my dad right? I can’t lose him too.”

“If you’re willing to testify against him, I’ll speak to my Captain to see what we can do, okay?” He nods his head vigorously as she steps out of the room. She enters the observation room and pulls the headset out of her ear.

“Jesus, Woods, what a show.” Captain Kane sticks out his hand and clasps a hand to her shoulder as she takes it.

“Thank Captain, you missed the setup though. Anya was brilliant.” She beams at her partner.

Kane smiles at them both. “Oh, I’m sure. You guys make a great team.  Are you both familiar with Indra Brooks? She is the head of the Organized Crime Unit, and you guys have found her a star witness here.”

Indra, although stern looking, looks at the both of them like she is proud. “Yes you have. Thank you both for your hard work. Unfortunately, though, I can’t let you arrest anyone yet.” Their faces fall. “I know you are disappointed, but we are very, very close to nailing Pike. If you bust his two cronies, you might shake him enough to change tactics. I’ve been trying to take down his operation for two years and we are so close. I promise, when we move, you will be credited for solving this.” The partners share a look of understanding, and nod their agreement. “You two go home, get some rest. Send me your reports and copies of your notes tomorrow afternoon. Great work, I’ll take Mr. Collins from here.” Anya and Lexa watch as their two superiors leave the room.

“Beer?” Lexa offers with a smirk.

“Fuck yes.”

“Great, just one though, I’m watching the kids tonight and I still need a nap.”

“Always so responsible, you’re no fun.” She playfully shoves Lexa’s shoulder as they walk out of the room.

 

_ Monday 6:02pm _

 

“Knock knock!” Lexa shouts as she slowly opens the front door of Sean and Stephanie’s house. 

“Aunt Lexa!” A chorus of children sing as they barrel toward her. She kneels down just in time to have the three older ones nearly tackle her.

“Well now, that's a greeting. Hello, munchkins.” Stephanie and Amanda step into the entryway of the house and greet Lexa in a more civilized manner than the children. “Hey, so sorry I am late.”

Stephanie laughs as shakes her head. “Lexa, you literally like 67 seconds late, please don’t apologise. Kids, please go finish eating your dinner. Hungry, Lexa?”

“Always.”

Amanda chimes in. “Come on then, our brother decided to make grandpa’s penne pasta.” 

Lexa’s eyes widen, and her mouth begins to water. “This day just keeps getting better.” They all move back into the dining room and take their place at the table. Chris passes her a plate and Sean hands her the pot of pasta. “To be clear, I am only using this plate for your benefit.” Everyone laughs as she dishes herself a large helping. About twenty minutes later, the two couples make their way out of the house with a promise to be home before ten. “Okay Maggie, I think it’s your turn to pick the movie.”

Maggie chooses to watch Inside Out. “Aunt Lexa look, Joy!” The 5 year old pats her arm as she snuggles into her left side. LJ is on her lap, watching the movie intently and Sophia and Liam are lying on the carpet in front of the TV coloring. She briefly thinks about how well behaved her nieces and nephews are most of the time. There were definitely times they pushed buttons, whined and cried, but most of the time they were good for her. LJ apparently has had enough of the the movie. He turns around and hugs into her tightly. It only takes about twenty more minutes before he is asleep. 

 

[Lexa 7:17pm] Such quality cuddles.

[Clarke 7:21pm] You too, huh?

[Lexa 7:21pm] Oh yeah. Movie time. I have Maggie on my side and LJ asleep hugging me.

[Clarke 7:24pm] I’d be jealous if I didn’t have Aden here on my lap.

[Clarke 7:24pm] Please tell me you got some rest.

[Lexa 7:26pm] Well I got another two naps. My brother and sister will be back by 10 and I don’t have to be in until nine tomorrow. We solved the case, so I just have to write the report.

[Lexa 7:27pm] Thank you, by the way.

[Clarke 7:28pm] Me? What did I do?

[Lexa 7:30pm] Your tip about Finn helped us piece everything together.

[Lexa 7:31pm] I wish you didn’t have that experience, but thank you for sharing it.

[Clarke 7:33pm] Was Finn involved?

[Lexa 7:35pm] Unfortunately I can’t disclose details on the case, but I will say not directly involved.

[Clarke 7:41pm] Well I am glad you figured everything out.

[Lexa 7:50pm] Me too, beautiful, me too.

 

The move ends around 8:15 and Lexa tells the kids to go brush their teeth and they all jump into Sophia's bed Lexa in the middle with the children piled on top of her. She reads them two bedtime stories. Before the third one, she rises from the bed and has the children adjust so that Maggie and Sophia can be left in the bed, and Liam and LJ can be easily removed to be put in Liam's room. She finishes the story, the longest one of all, by design, and all of the children are asleep. She moves Liam into his own bed, and returns for LJ. She picks him up and attempts to place him in the second bed in Liam's room but he wakes up.

“No no Yexa.” He grips her shirt tight and rubs his face on her front.

“Okay buddy. Only because you're my favorite, don't tell the others.” She paces a kiss on his forehead and moves back down stairs. She lays down on the couch with LJ still on her chest and flips on Animal Planet. “That's your goal buddy. Be as cool as Jeremy Wade. He gets to go all over the world and go to the most beautiful, remote places. All he has to do is catch some fish.” As LJ often does when she is holding him, and giving her direct attention to him, his little hand pats her chest softly. His eyes drift shut and hers slowly do as well. She is awoken some time later by the weight on her chest being lifted. Her eyes pop open, and Amanda is shushing her immediately. She relaxes and is told to go home and get some real sleep. She hugs her siblings and their spouses, kisses LJ’s head, then heads home.

 

_ Tuesday, March 1st 7:45am _

“Aden, sweetie, time to get up.” Clarke brushes the hair from his face as the boy slowly stirs.

“Hi, Mommy.”

“Good morning little man. Let’s get you some breakfast and ready for preschool. Miss Maya said you guys are going to do a special activity today. Do you know what it is?”

His eyes light up. “We get to paint, just wike you Mommy!” She chuckles softly at his excited reaction. They both get up from his bed and move to down stairs toward the kitchen.

“You get to have such a fun day today. First you get to paint, then you get to go to the zoo with grandma and grandpa.” She listens as Aden chatters on about all the animals he is looking forward to seeing. He doesn’t know that the event is somewhat interactive and he will be able to pet some of them. She takes out her phone and texts her mom to take the good camera tonight. After breakfast she gets him into the bathroom for the brushing of teeth and hair. Then she gets him dressed in clothes he has previously ‘helped’ her paint in, knowing it’s going to get messy later. She hears her phone chime and assumes it’s her mom about the camera.

[Lexa 8:01am] Morning, beautiful. I can't wait to see you tonight.

[Clarke 8:06am] Good morning Lex. I can't wait either.

[Lexa 8:09am] Is Aden feeling better?

[Clarke 8:14am] He is. He is so excited for the zoo. How was your night with the family?

[Lexa 8:15am] Really good. The kids are really well behaved so it was easy.

[Clarke 8:16am] Does that mean you haven't corrupted them yet?

[Lexa 8:17am] My mom would legitimately murder me.

[Clarke 8:18am] I see. No corrupting then please.

[Clarke 8:19am] What time are you off tonight? My parents are picking Aden up at 5:45.

“Okay little man, let’s go.” She leads him to the car in the driveway and into his car seat. They make their way to the preschool nearby. She gets a parking spot out front quickly and holds Aden’s hand as they walk across the street. Once in the classroom, he gives her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before running off to play with his friends. Clarke hangs his bag on his assigned peg and moves to the sign in counter.

“Hey Clarke. How are you today?”

“Hey Maya. I’m good. I put him in paint acceptable clothes, so feel free to let him go crazy.” After a few minutes chatting with Maya, she makes her way back out to her car. Before she pulls away from the curb, she sees a response from the detective.

[Lexa 8:41am] I should be out of here by 6 at the latest. I'll come straight over to get you, if that's okay?

[Clarke 8:49am] That's perfect. See you later Lex.

[Lexa 8:53am] See you later, beautiful.

“Hey Ahn. How was your night?” Lexa drops all of her things unceremoniously onto her desk as she greets her partner. She sits and boots up her computers as Anya passes her a coffee cup.

“Good. I was exhausted, but Raven wouldn’t let me sleep.” She waggles her eyebrows, conveying the true meaning behind that statement.

“Gross. I thought you were grounded for a month after that tussle at Paddy’s?”

The dirty blonde shrugs. “She said she was proud of me for solving the case. She’s proud of you, but that discussion was not part of our escapades.” Lexa hums a thank you, and they both work diligently for about thirty minutes. “I think she wants something, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Raven?” Anya nods. “A baby.” Lexa states simply, like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

Her partner’s eyes widen, and she is silent for a few seconds. “Did she talk to you about it?”

The brunette shakes her head negatively. “If she had, it would’ve been in confidence, and there is no way we would be having this conversation right now. I’ve known Raven for like twelve years, sometimes I know her too well. This is just something I know, I can tell. There was something in her eyes when we talked about my sister in law being pregnant again.” She sighs and leans back in her chair. “You guys have been together what, five years? Married for two and a half? The timing lines up with ‘average’ couples. Is that something you would want?”

The blonde leans forward, elbows on the desk head in her hands. “I want everything with her, obviously I love her. I just don’t know if I’m ready to be a parent.”

“If it’s any consolation, I think you both will be great once you do have one.” Anya’s eyes snap up to her partner and friend.

“Thanks, Lexa.”

_ 6:12pm _

Clarke moves to answer the knock at her door. She is met by the sight of Lexa in her usual work attire, grey fitted suit pants and a deep green button down shirt rolled up to her elbows. She was also wearing an additional accessory, not exactly suitable for a date. “Are we going somewhere shady for dinner?” Lexa cocks her head to the side and looks at her with a confused look. Clarke briefly thinks of her comparison to a puppy before their first date as she smiles and points to Lexa’s gun holster.

“Oh. No, sorry. I was in such a hurry to get over here, I forgot I was wearing it. I have a lock box in the trunk. I’ll go-” She is cut off by Clarke’s lips being pressed to hers. They pull back after a few seconds. Lexa holds the shorter girl close with a grip on her hips, she leans in and rests their foreheads together. “Hi.”

“Hey, Lex.” Clarke lifts up on her toes to press their lips together again. Her hands go up and lock behind the brunettes neck, pulling her in for a deeper kiss. Lexa presses forward causing them to drift toward the door, the blonde lets out a small gasp as her back hits the door softly.

Lexa pulls back and brings her hand up to caress Clarke’s face softly. “Sorry beautiful. I got a little carried away. Come on, let’s go to dinner.” She pulls on Clarke’s hand but the blonde doesn’t budge.

She wrinkles her nose at the idea. “I think I just want to make out with you more.” Lexa’s brain falters slightly at the suggestion.

“How do you feel about chinese take out at my place?” Clarke smiles brightly and nods. “Okay then, let’s go beautiful.” She tries to pull Clarke toward the car again, and gets a more willing participant in the walk. They drive to Lexa’s apartment quietly, about halfway there, Clarke links their hands together on top of the gear shift, causing Lexa to smile brightly. Once they arrive to the large brick building in the old warehouse district, Lexa parks in her normal spot and hops out quickly to open Clarke’s door. 

They make their way into the apartment, and the blonde is focused on taking in every detail of the space. The building used to be a textile factory, so the ceiling is high. The walls are brick and the support beams are all exposed. The floor plan is completely open, no clear definition of ‘rooms’ on this floor. On the left is the living area, that immediately flows into the dining area, which is next to the kitchen. On the opposite wall of the entry door, is a large window, that leads to a patio. Instead of a traditional balcony, there is a large area that basically just has a glass instead of roofing material. Out there is a huge wooden table that sat at least eighteen people. Near the sliding door for the patio there was a staircase that leads to what she assumed was possibly two bedrooms.

“Lexa, this place is beautiful.” She breaths out. “The patio must be so… mesmerizing during rain storms.”

“Oh it is. The weekend that I moved in there was a huge storm that came in. I stood out there for hours and just watched.” She comes to a stop behind the blonde and wraps her arms around her middle, resting her chin on Clarke’s shoulder. “I think I need some art for that wall.” She points to the wall opposite the kitchen and smirks. “Know any good artists?”

“Aden painted some pictures at school today. I can see if he is free to do a commission or two for you.” Clarke laughed.

Lexa laughs too. “Are you kidding, that guy probably charges an arm and a leg.” She places a small kiss to Clarke cheek. “How do you feel about kung pao chicken, honey walnut shrimp, chow mein, rice and egg rolls?”

“Mmm, it’s sexy when you talk about food. Keep going.” They both laugh and Lexa reluctantly pulls herself away from Clarke and heads to the couch, pulling a menu from the coffee table, she presses her phone to her ear and orders their food quickly. Clarke skims her fingers along the couch as she walks around, still surveying the room. 

Lexa watches her for about ten minutes. “Hey beautiful, come over here, sit with me.” The blonde hums as she rounds the couch and saunters in front of the seated detective. She leans down and kisses Lexa quickly, then pushes her further back on the couch and moves to straddle her lap. Their kiss is slow but but passionate. Clarke pulls away for a second to adjust her position. “How long do I get your attention tonight, beautiful?” She places hot open mouth kisses to the column of the blonde’s throat, eliciting a satisfied groan from the girl on top of her.

“I told Octavia I would be home by 11. She said something about going to a bar with some of her classmates. Fuck, I love your lips.” She leans in and captures them again, this time more intensely. She swipes her tongue asking for entrance, which is readily given. Lexa’s hands start to wander, from their temporary home on Clarke’s hips, slowly around to her ass, giving an soft squeeze. Their tongues are engaged in an intricate dance that neither is sure who is leading, but damn if they both don’t love it. They pull back slightly to breathe, and Lexa immediately moves to attach her lips to Clarke’s neck, just below the ear. “No marks, Lex. I’m a doctor not a teenager.”

“No promises.” She mumbles into soft, flush skin with a smirk. “God, I think I am addicted to kissing you.”

Clarke tangles her hands deep in long brown waves, holding Lexa’s head firmly in place. “You’re really fucking good at it, so I’m not going to be complaining.” Wet, hot kisses move from under her ear to her pulse point, then to her collar bone. She hits a particularly sensitive part of Clarke's neck as she moves back up and the blonde grinds her hips down involuntarily.

“Fuck, Clarke… can I-” she cuts herself off, not wanting to speak to soon about her desire to touch every inch in the girl on top of her and risk scaring her off.

“Can you what, babe?” The term of endearment slipping out almost as naturally and the grind of her hips a second ago. “Lexa?” She uses her hands still being buried in thick hair to force the girl to look up at her. “Can you what?”

Lexa stares at her for just a second, admiring her lustful beauty. “Can I touch you?” She whispers, small but hopeful.

“God ye-” Her response is cut off by a knock on the door. “I never thought I would be so upset at the arrival of food.”

Lexa glares toward the door like it's personally offended her. “We don't have to eat just yet. Let me up for a second and I'll be right back.” She moves out from under the blonde, practically runs for the door, shoves more than enough money at the delivery guy, deposits the bags in the kitchen and runs back to the couch. She finds Clarke laying down fully with a playful smirk plastered firmly on her beautiful face. She gets a one finger ‘come here’ gesture from the blonde and quickly kneels on the couch between Clarke's legs. “Now, where were we?”

“I think, and correct me if I am wrong, but I think you were about to touch me. In conservative places of course, I'm not some floozy who gives it up on the second date.”

“Of course, Dr. Griffin. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me if I would like to see you naked.”

“Hmm. Maybe tonight you can see me almost naked.” Lexa groans and slides her hands up Clarke’s shirt, over her ribs, gently stroking her fingers along them and brushing the underside of those perfect breasts. She reattaches her lips to Clarke’s neck and gently nips at the exposed skin there. She runs her hands back down to Clarke’s hips and grips the hem of the doctor’s shirt. She pulls back and looks for permission, which she gets in the form of an eager nod.

The next few weeks go almost exactly the same way. The two women talk at least once a day, they text almost constantly when not working. They go out on Sunday's when Aden is with his grandparents, and a couple of times they go out on a weekday when Octavia is free to stay home with him for a few hours. Lexa makes a big deal about the time she is stealing from Aden on those days, but Clarke assures her that it's only like an hour of time and then he is asleep. They learn everything about one another that they can, ins and outs of each other's personalities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teaser: Next chapter is simply titled ADEN.


	4. Aden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy meeting of Aden and Lexa.
> 
> Also, fluffy animals mentioned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to comment here or on my new tumblr.
> 
> https://firstade-universe.tumblr.com/

_ Friday, May 27th 6:45pm _

Lexa makes her way up the walk toward Clarke's house as her phone begins to ring she pulls it out of her pocket to see Clarke's name on the caller ID. She glances at the driveway and sees Clarke's car so she hits ignore and quickly knocks in the door. It swings open quickly and Clarke is standing before her looking very flustered. “Hey.”

“Hey Lex. I just tried to call you.”

“I know, I was already here. Is something wrong?”

Clarke sighs. “I don't think we can go out tonight.”

“Oh.” Lexa’s shoulders slump and Clarke's heart breaks slightly at the sight of how disappointed she is. “Why?” Instead of responding verbally, the blonde just pulls the door open wider to reveal the small boy hiding behind her legs, attempting to see the visitor. “Oh. Hello, Aden.” She offers a small wave and a bright smile. He shyly waves back.

“Octavia is behind on her project and had to stay for office hours with her professor.”

“I see. Well, we could reschedule or we could all go for some wholesome fun at the… how's his spelling?”

Clarke chuckles. “He's four, he can spell his name and that's about it.”

“F-A-I-R. It's up to you, mama bear.”

She gets down to her son’s level, and turns the boy toward the doorway. “Aden, this is mommy's friend Lexa. Can you say hello to her?”

“Hi Wexa.” It comes out small and shy.

She looks to her date. “He still has some trouble with L’s and TH. Not all of them, just some.”

Lexa smiles brightly back at her. “I think I like it better.”

“Lexa would like to go to the fair with us, does that sound like fun to you?”

He thinks for a second. “Are dere goats at da fair?”

“I think so.” Clarke smiles, biting her her lip at the seriousness of her son.

He takes another second. “Wexa isn't a stranger?”

“No sir. She isn't a stranger.” Clarke manages to get out through a laugh.

“My mommy is a doctor. What are you?” Lexa looks to him with an amused grin. She pulls her badge out of her pocket and shows him. “Wexa is a powice officer! Mommy, wook!”

Both adults are chuckling now. “I know little man, I know. So what do you say, fair time?”

“Yes! I need shoes! Wets go to da fair!” He sings as runs inside and up to his bedroom. Clarke yells at him to put a jacket on too.

Lexa let's out an amused sigh. “I've been interviewed by police officers who didn't do as good of a job vetting me.”

“I've told you, he's a character. Thank you for this.” Clarke moved into Lexa’s personal space and places a small kiss to her lips.

“So, how are we doing this? I mean, uh, what am I not allowed to do when he's around?” She rubs the back of her neck nervously.

“Um, huh. Well, no cursing and no tongue. Everything else should be okay.”

She nods. “Okay, I just wasn't sure if you'd be okay with any sort of affection in front of him.”

The doctor shrugs. “He's a smart kid, if he's curious he'll ask.” They hear the telltale signs of an approaching child, the pitter patter of tiny feet.

“Wexa, wook. I found my powiceman toy to come wif us.”

She squats down to his level as Clarke goes in to get her purse and coat. “Whoa. He's a cool policeman. His belt has everything! I don't even have all of those things anymore!”

He looks confused. “Did you get in trouble Wexa? Did dey take your stuff away because you were bad? Mommy and Auntie O do that when I don't wisten sometimes.”

She smiles at him. “No, I wasn't bad. You see this cop,” She touches the head of the toy in his hand, “he goes out on the street all the time and has a lot of different tasks. I did that for a little while and I did a really good job. Understand?” He nods seriously. “So my boss gave me a new job. My job is to catch the bad guys that this policeman can't find.” She glances up at Clarke who is fondly watching the exchange.

“So, you are a super cop?”

She laughs lightly. “I'm what's called a detective.”

“Detective. Detective Wexa.” His eyes shine bright with sheer wonder. He looks back to his mom, who is locking the door. “Okay Wexa, wets go to da fair now.” He holds his little hand up for her to take as they walk to the car. She opens the door to the back seat of Clarke’s small SUV, Aden climbs in and Clarke leans in behind him to make sure he's buckled in all the way.

“He can almost do it himself, maybe one or two more weeks and I'll feel more comfortable.” Lexa nods and closes the door after Clarke is done. She turns and climbs into the passenger seat. The ride to the fairgrounds is about twenty minutes and Aden takes that time to tell them all about his preschool troubles. How Bradley only brings carrots on his snack day and how Ashley doesn't share the sand toys and Miss Maya has to make her. They get to the fairgrounds and it's pretty busy.

“Aden, I want you to leave your policeman in the car okay?”

He sticks out his bottom lip. “But…”

“No buts, Aden. Besides, you have a real life detective going to the fair with you. Isn't that better than your toy?” He nods and gets out of his seat, setting the toy in his place. He hops out if the vehicle and reaches for his mom’s hand. Once that is secure, he reaches for Lexa’s. 

They make their way to the gate, and much to Clarke's protest, Lexa pays for all three of them to enter. They follow the signs to the livestock area to find Aden some goats to look at. They enter a large building that is lined with metal livestock pens, they pass slowly through noting the different animals to Aden. They see sheep, like five varieties. Then llamas, then they come to smaller cages with chickens and bunnies. They reach cows next and Aden is intently watching a couple of other children pet some of them. Lexa notices, of course she does, she's a detective.

She kneels in front of him. “Do you want to pet the cow?”

He shakes his head adamantly. “No, it's too big, Wexa! It's scary.”

“It's just too big from down here. What if I lift you up? Cows aren't scary, I promise.” She quirks an eyebrow at him as he sticks his pinky out. She wraps her pinky around his and he sticks his arms tip to be lifted. Clarke takes out her phone to take pictures of the events transpiring before her. Once he is securely wrapped around her, Lexa makes her way over to the cow, making sure to approach slowly. She locks eyes with the handler, a boy around 15, and asks where the cow most likes to be pet.

“She really likes right behind the ear.”

“Okay Aden, right behind her ear, nice and gentle like a puppy or a kitten.” His small hand reaches out slowly and gingerly strokes the spot Lexa pointed to. His brow is knitted together like the task requires complete concentration.

“Wexa.” He whispers. “Wexa, wook. I'm petting da cow.”

“I see that buddy. You're doing a very good job.” He pets the cow for a minute or two. “Okay, should we let the other kids have a chance now?” He nods and she moves them back over to Clarke, who is smiling brightly at them.

“You did it Aden. Was it scary?” 

He shakes his head. “Wexa was right. It's just too big from down here.” Clarke holds out a bottle of hand sanitizer for him to apply, he rubs his hands together vigorously. The women laugh and they resume their hunt for goats. The get to the last part of the livestock exhibit and finally locate the goats. Aden heads straight for them pressing his whole body against the bars to get his arm between them and into the pen to pet the small goat inside. Clarke and Lexa hang back about 8 feet from the pens allowing him to move around and pet as many as he wants.

“If I am remembering correctly, there is a petting zoo on the other end of this building, out back.”

Clarke hums in agreement. “I think you're right. He likes you.”

“Already? How do you know?” She turns to the blonde with a puzzled look. She gets a smile in return, then a kiss on the cheek.

“Well. He is my kid, so I sort of know him.” She raises an eyebrow smirks, then kisses Lexa's cheek. “Also, he only lets five people pick him up. Me, O, my mom and dad and his teacher Maya. He doesn’t even let Bell, and boy does that piss my brother off. He let you pick him up after what? An hour?”

Lexa rubs the back of her neck. “Well, I uh. That’s really good then I guess.” 

“It’s really good. If you couldn’t tell by the mini inquisition you received earlier, he is very selective about people. Probably because I am too.”

The brunette smiles. “Like mother like son, huh?”

“What that we both like you or that we’re both selective?” Clarke jabs her in the ribs lightly. “Besides, I think that saying is supposed to apply to biological relationships.”

“I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that is not true.” She leans back on the wall located behind them, so she can still keep an eye on Aden. Clarke notices her new position and takes the opportunity to have some contact with the other girl. She steps in front of her, pressing her back to Lexa’s front and leaning back. The taller girl wraps her arms around the blonde in front of her, rests her chin on her shoulder, and lets out a content hum. “Like my mom, I am firm and honest. I’m also serious and contemplative like my dad. They aren’t biological.”

“You? Serious? I don’t know…”

Lexa shakes her head softly then presses a small kiss to Clarke’s neck. They watch as Aden talks to one of the other kids. “He’s great you know. You’re doing a wonderful job.”

Clarke sighs. “Thanks. I have a lot of help. I don’t know what I would do without O or my parents.”

“That’s what family is for.” She squeezes the doctor a bit tighter. Two men start to argue about six feet to Aden’s right and he runs over to his mom, throwing his arms up to be held. They escalate from a raised voices to shouting and Lexa starts to move away from Clarke and Aden seeing the little boy is afraid of the yelling.

“Stay here for a second okay. I’m going to make them stop okay, Aden?” The boy nods and Lexa steps forward toward the two, who have started poking each other in the chest and yelling louder. “Hey! You two, knock it off.” Their eyes both snap to Lexa and they scoff at her telling her to mind her own business. “Look, there are kids here. Don’t make me arrest you for a public disturbance.” The men look at her again and she is holding up her badge. “You could try me or you could walk away.” They both step back and start to make for the nearest door. She returns to Clarke and Aden, to find the boy with his head tucked into Clarke’s neck. “Alright Aden. They’re gone, do you want to go back to the goats?” He denies her with the shake of his head. “Okay, how about we walk and see what else we can find?”

“That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can find something interesting out back?” Clarke hints to their previous conversation. They start moving back the way they came and once outside of the building they see a red fenced in area signed ‘Petting Zoo.’

“Has he done this before?” Lexa inquires as they get closer.

Clarke smiles at her. “Once. He loved it.” She rubs his back and tells him to look. His head pops up and his eyes widen.

“Mommy! Can we feed dem?”

“Yes we can, but you have to be calm and gentle, just like with the cow and goats okay?” He nods to her very seriously, she puts him down and heads for the entry gate. Clarke pays for each of them to get some food for the animals and Aden immediately makes for the miniature donkey that’s inside. The two women try not to hover, but stay close enough that if something happens, they can react quickly. They stay in the petting zoo for about fifteen minutes, then decide to move toward the midway. Clarke pays for Aden to play a couple of the ‘completely rigged’ games which he, unsurprisingly, loses. Lexa steps up to the basketball game and shows off her sharpshooting skills. She lets Aden pick the prize and he clutches it for the rest of the night, a stuffed bear he names Barry. It’s nearing 9:00pm and Aden let’s out a big yawn.

Lexa catches it out of the corner of her eye. “You sleepy, buddy?” He nods. “Okay, I think we can head back home now, does that sound good?” Another nod. She grabs one of his hands and Clarke grabs the other. As they make their way back to the fair entrance, fireworks begin to go off. Aden stops walking as he look up in amazement. “Whoa.”

“Traffic is going to be nuts if we wait to leave until those are over.” Clarke leans into to whisper in Lexa’s ear.

The brunette knows her date is right. “Aden, let’s keep walking, okay?”

“Wexa, I can’t. The wights are so pretty.” She looks to Clarke who is shrugging.

“I can just carry him.” The blonde resolves, before Lexa shakes her head. It takes another second before she gets an idea. She kneels in front of him and picks him up, placing him on her shoulders. “You okay up there?” She starts walking toward the exit, one hand on his leg, one hand holding Clarke’s.

“Wexa, I’m up so high! Mommy wook! The cow would wook small from up here.” Both women chuckle.

“I see you, Aden. I wish I was that tall.” They make a quick exit and make it to Clarke’s car before the end of the show. Lexa keeps Aden on her shoulders and walks back toward the fairgrounds about thirty feet so they would have an unobstructed view of the show, since there was a large tree near their parking space. Clarke stays near the car, because she put the keys in the ignition to warm up the inside. She snaps a shot of the two watching the show both looking up at the sky on her cell and immediately sends it to Octavia with a text that reads ‘I have never been more happy that you suck at school.’ The show ends with the extremely loud grand finale and Lexa quickly makes her way back to the car and kneels for Clarke to lift Aden from her shoulders. He hops into his seat and Clarke checks his buckle. He has Barry in one hand and his policeman in the other.

“Wexa, are you gonna hang out wif us again?” Aden asks with a sleepy voice from the back seat.

Lexa looks at Clarke who nods encouragingly to her. “I would really like to Aden, would you be okay with that?” 

He nods vigorously. “Next time we can pway in my room, I have so many toys to show you!”

She smiles and grabs Clarke’s hand, like the doctor does when she is driving. “I bet you do. I can’t wait to see them.” Everything is quiet for a few seconds, and Clarke even begins to think that Aden drifted off to sleep.

“Mommy, Wexa isn’t wike your other friends. She hugs you more.” Lexa’s eyes widen, as she thinks about the many possible outcomes for this conversation, but Clarke looks oddly calm, like she had waiting for him to ask this all night.

“No, Aden, she isn’t like my other friends. Lexa and I are dating. Do you know what that means?” She glances in the rear view mirror and catches him as he shakes his head no. “Well, you know how some of your friends have a mommy and a daddy, some have two daddies and some have two mommies? Before they got married, they went on dates and they got to know each other by spending time together to see if maybe they want to be together. Do you understand?”

“I fink so.” He copies the Winnie-the-Pooh thinking position, and Lexa can’t help but think how adorable this kid is. “You wike spending time wif my mommy, Wexa?”

“I do, Aden. I like spending time with you too. You and I have to get to know each other too. Are you okay with that?”

He has a bright smile on his face at the prospect. “Yeah! You make my mommy smile wots. Mommy wooks so pretty when she’s reawy happy.” They pull up into the driveway, and Lexa’s stunned silence at this little boy’s observation skills is lost on him as he unbuckles his seat and moves to hop out of the car. Clarke regards her curiously.

“You okay?” She glances over to meet her favorite pair of blue eyes.

“Oh yeah. I am just impressed by your kid. Are you sure he is four?” Clarke doesn’t answer she just smiles.

“Come on Wexa, time for teefs and tucks.” Aden shouts from outside the car.

The blonde chuckles. “Time to brush his teeth and get tucked in with a bedtime story. Teeth and tucks.”

“Ah, yes of course.”

“Wanna bet he wants his new favorite person to read the story.” She looks quickly to the brunette. “You don’t have to of course. You can just come in and hang out or go home if you want to-” Lexa presses her lips softly to Clarke’s to stop her rambling.

“If he wants me to read, I’ll read. I don’t mind. Come on.” They exit the car and enter the house, Clarke tells Aden to go brush and go potty before bed and the kid takes off with new found energy.

“Clarke,” Octavia shouts from in the kitchen out of sight from the pair by the door. “Listen here you bitch. Number one, I do not suck at school. I have a 3.93 GPA. Number two, did you really go out with Aden AND sexy hotness? Number three, how in the world did she get him to let her pick him up? Let me guess, candy?” Clarke motions with a head tilt for Lexa to follow her into the kitchen, then she motions for her to say hi to the brunette sitting at the bar with her back to the entry way. Lexa moves toward her and sticks her face as close as possible before simply saying, “Hello.”

Octavia nearly jumps out of her skin. “Holy fucking shit. My heart.”

“Don’t worry, Clarke knows what to do in case of a heart attack.” Lexa smirks.

“Whoa, you are like, way hotter than I anticipated. I thought Clarke was exaggerating.”

“Octavia!” Clarke shouts.

She only shrugs in response. “What, it’s a compliment. Seriously though, how’d you get him to let you pick him up?”

It was Lexa’s turn to shrug in response. “He wanted to pet the cow, so I offered and he accepted.”

She looks to her sister. “Bell is going to be so fuckin’ pissed.”

Clarke sighs. “I know. What can I do about it though? I can’t make Aden like him.”

“Anywho, did you guys have a fun time at the fair?”

“We did, Aden might chat your ear off about it tomorrow, so you’ll hear it all, I’m sure.”

“Wexa.” A singsongy child pops around the corner into the kitchen. “Hey Auntie O!” He climbs up into his Octavia’s lap and throws his arms around her neck, then kisses her cheek. “Goodnight, teefs are done. Wove you!” He turns around and throws his arms out to Lexa. “Time for tucks, Wexa!” Octavia watches, baffled, as Lexa picks the boy up from her lap and carries him up the stairs behind Clarke. They make it up the stairs and Clarke leads them to the first door in the hall.

“Wexa, welcome to my room! I have toys and books and my superhero bed. I wike the avengers! Captain America is the best.” She sets him down on the bed and he scrambles under the covers. Clarke tucks his blankets in tightly around his body, then picks up a book of short stories and hands it to Lexa. “No mommy! You have to show Wexa how I wike it. You do it da best.” Clarke smiles and sits on the edge of the bed next to him so he can cuddle into her.

“The cuddling is a very important part.” Aden confirms Clarke’s statement with a happy, vigorous nod. She reads him the story, throwing her voice for different characters. Lexa is amused at the pair and thinks about how similar it is to when she reads for her nieces and nephews. When the story concludes Aden’s eyes are drooping heavily. Clarke kisses his cheek and both she and Lexa tell him goodnight. “Mommy, next time is Wexa’s turn okay?”

“Next time little man, love you.” She clicks the light off and pulls the door closed behind her, leaving her and Lexa alone in the silent hallway. She stares at the brunette in front of her for what feels like minutes but in reality is only about twenty seconds. “Be my girlfriend.” She blurts out.

Before she even has time to register that words actually left her mouth, Lexa is pushing her up against the wall and attacking her lips. She manages to use the leverage she has to lift Clarke enough to wrap her legs around the taller girl’s middle. “God yes, Clarke, I almost asked you like 94 times tonight. Which way is your room?”

“Last one on the right, babe.”

 

_ Saturday May 28th, 12:13am _

 

“Do I, um. Do I need to leave? I will, if you want me to, but I really want to stay here and wake up next to you.”

Clarke lifts her head up from Lexa’s chest and gives her a confused look. “Why would I want you to leave?”

“Well, I don’t know. I mean I just met Aden, and I just don’t want to mess anything up. Things are great. You’re perfect.” She leans forward to kiss her girlfriend. “So perfect.”

“I’m definitely not perfect, but thank you. You aren’t going to mess anything up. If anything, Aden will ask if we had a sleepover, which is technically what we did. It’s not like he’s going to see you here in the morning and it’s going to flip some magical switch in his four year old brain and he’s suddenly going to know what sex is and that we definitely had it. Multiple times.” She sits up and moves to straddle Lexa’s hips. “Multiple mind-blowing times. Thanks for that by the way, you’re very attentive.” She leans forward to kiss her girlfriend again.

Lexa uses Clarke’s distracted state to her advantage, and rolls them over, reversing their positions. “There is no way I could even think of leaving you unsatisfied, girlfriend of mine. Besides, you were equally as attentive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is a selfless service top IMO


	5. Parks and the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff, some plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I've been working a lot! Traveling for work sucks sometimes. Anywho, better late than never. Right?

_ Saturday, May 28th 7:35am _

 

Lexa, ever the light sleeper, wakes to gentle fingers tracing shapes and patterns on her bare back. She lets out a content hum.

“Your tattoo is really sexy.” Clarke’s fingers don't stop their movements in her tracing. “Does it mean something?”

Lexa hums again. “The top circle represents true happiness. The seven smaller circles represent the steps it takes to get there. Patience, gratitude, honesty, self-acceptance, forgiveness, family and love.” Clarke’s fingers still and she places a small kiss to the largest circle as the girl in front of her breathes out the last two words. Lexa turns over slowly and slides her hand onto Clarke's bare hip, pulling her closer. “Morning.”

The blonde brings her hand up, brushing the hair from Lexa's face. “Mmm. Morning. I hate to have to say this, but we should probably put clothes on. Aden tends to come in and wake me up around eight.” 

“Wouldn't want to scar the kid for life now, would we?” Lexa laughs as Clarke leans in and kisses her forehead, then her nose then brings their lips together. The lay there kissing slowly, sweetly, for another few minutes.

“Are you sure you're okay with all of this?”

“Oh. No, I just wanted to see how hard it would actually be for me to get you completely naked. Now I'm out.” Clarke juts her lip out in a playful pout. “Seriously though, I meant what I said last night. I almost asked you to be mine so many times yesterday. I want this, Clarke. I want you, Aden, and hell Octavia too if she's part of this family package deal.” She places a gentle hand to the doctor’s cheek. “I'm all in.”

Clarke stares at her intently through her little speech, searching her eyes for any signs of doubt, which she finds none. “I'm glad, because I really like you. I don't understand how you were single, but damn am I glad you were.” They stay embracing each other for a couple more minutes the reluctantly get out of the bed and pull clothes on. Clarke throws Lexa some loose sweats and a plain black T-shirt, she pulls on a similar outfit. “Damn, you look good in my clothes.”

“Now that we're dressed, can we go back to cuddling?” The blonde doesn't respond verbally, just crawls back into the bed, flops down in the middle and holds her arms open. Lexa moves quickly into waiting arms, placing her head on Clarke's chest.

“My mom says I only dated girls before. That I settled, had a pattern of settling, and that's why I was perpetually single.” She looks up to meet Clarke's eyes and smiles softly. “You know what she said when I told her about you?”

“No.” The doctor runs her fingers through long brown locks. “What’d she say?”

“She said I finally found a grown woman. Hopefully, someone I'll have to work for, someone who will make me grow too. I think she was right.” She leans up to connect her lips to the blonde underneath her. 

The door to the bedroom slowly opens with a creak and Lexa rolls off of Clarke and lays next to her. “Mommy, time for breakfast.” Aden makes his way inside the room and his face lights up when he sees the other occupant of the bed. “Wexa!” He clambers up the side of the bed, over Clarke and comes to a stop on top of Lexa, hugging her tightly. “Morning Wexa.”

“Morning kiddo.” She wraps her arms around the young boy, squeezing lightly.

His head pops up off her shoulder after a second to look at Clarke. “Mommy, you didn’t tell me you and Wexa were having a sweep over. We could’a built a fort!”

“Next time little man, I promise. Is auntie O up yet?” He nods yes. “Okay, why don’t you head down to the kitchen and Lexa and I will be down in a second.”

“Okay Mommy!” He hops up from his position, kisses Clarke’s cheek and jumps off the bed before running out of the room. Clarke moves to stand and Lexa scoots to the end of the bed, but doesn’t get up yet.

“Hey beautiful, come here.” The brunette speaks softly and points to the space between her legs. Clarke smiles at her before obliging the request. As she enters the other girl’s personal space, two hands grasp her waist and gently tug her fully into Lexa’s lean body. Clarke puts her forearms on the seated girl’s shoulders and locks her fingers together behind her head. “You are so damn sexy, you know that?” Hands slowly slip between Clarke’s shirt and up her sides as Lexa leans up and gently presses their lips together. Clarke hums her approval into the kiss, then slowly leans back and grabs one of Lexa’s hands.

“Come on Champ. You must be starving after last night. You like pancakes?” She pulls the brunette off the bed and towards the hall.

Lexa laughs. “You should know by now, I love all food.”

 

_ 12:30pm _

 

“Oh. Someone got laid.” Anya drops down into her desk across from Lexa with a smirk. The younger woman just continues her dopey smiling.

“Clarke is officially my girlfriend.”

Anya leans over and high fives her. “So does that mean you met the kid?”

“I did.” She nods. “Anya, he’s so great. Clarke said that he doesn’t let people pick him up, like ever. Just her and her immediate family. But not her brother, Bellamy. He let me pick him up after about an hour. How cool is that!”

“Oh no.” Anya groans. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more sappy, you go and one up yourself. Can we get to work now or is the rainbows and sunshine coming out your ass going to blind me all day?”

“Whatever Ahn. You make fun of me all you want, but I know how you were when I introduced you to Raven. ‘Oh, Lexa, she’s so smart. Lexa she’s so pretty. Lexa her eyes are just like wow.’ I remember Anya.” Lexa mocks her friend with a grin.

“Hey, that reminds me, Raven wants to talk to you about something. She said she texted you last night.”

“Right. I was out with Clarke and Aden. I’ll text her now.”

 

[Lexa 12:40pm] Yo. Sorry I was MIA last night. What’s up?

[Raven 12:47pm] You’re forgiven if and only if you were getting laid.

[Lexa 12:51pm] Looks like I’m forgiven then.

[Raven 1:01pm] Congrats on the sex. I bet Clarke is an animal in bed.

[Lexa 1:14pm] A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.

[Raven 1:21pm] Lame. Can we do dinner Monday night? Just us two?

 

Lexa looks up from her phone after reading the message and looks at Anya. “What did you do?”

Anya shrugs. “I don’t know. What did I do?”

“I don’t know either. Raven wants to have dinner with just me and her. That hasn’t happened since she thought you cheated on her like the third month you were dating. I usually have to ask her to dinner.”

“Honestly, Lexa. I didn’t do anything. I don’t think.” There is a long pause while the two women just look at each other. “Shit. What did I do?”

Lexa groans and drops her head on her desk with a thud. “God damn it, Anya!”

“What did she do now, Woods?” Marcus Kane asks as he approaches their desks.

“I don’t know.” They both respond in unison.

He raises an eyebrow at the pair then smiles. “You two are my favorite. Which is why I am offering you a schedule change.”

“Please, tell me no more Saturday nights?” Anya grips the edge of her desk with one hand and crosses her fingers on the other.

“No. No more Saturday nights. I want you guys here, with me, Monday through Friday seven to four. Unless you catch a case of course.”

“Sweet Jesus.” Lexa hops up and high fives Anya. “Thanks Captain!”

“Oh, you’re going to like me even more. We’re over staffed tonight and since you guys have a hundred percent close rate, I’m giving you the night off. Paid.” Kane smiles at them and shoves his hands in his pockets.

Anya stands and clears her throat dramatically. “Captain, I think I speak for not only myself, but Woods here, when I say this. I have never loved a man, but damn am I close to loving you right now.”

Marcus chuckles. “Not sure Callie would be okay with that. Oh and Forrester, whatever you did. Fix it.”

“Yes sir.” Anya turns to Lexa as Marcus walks away. “Help me!”

Lexa smirks. “Okay, okay. I’m on it. Does she work tonight?” Anya shakes her head. “Okay. You’re in charge of flowers and wine. I’ll take her to dinner and see what’s up.”

 

[Lexa 1:45pm] How about tonight? Kane just gave us the night off.

[Raven 1:48pm] Really? Sweet. Yeah, tonight will work.

 

_ 2:15pm _

 

“Aden, please pick up your toys in your room.” Clarke calls over her shoulder as she moves to open the front door. She hears a return of ‘Okay Mommy’ and smiles at her son and pulls open the door. She obviously surprised by who she finds on the other side. “Lexa. Hey, what are you doing here?”

She smiles wide and bright at Clarke. “I got the day off. Raven wants to do dinner, but I figured I could spend a Saturday with my favorite girl and her adorable son. If you have plans, that’s okay. I didn’t really think this through. I should have called. I’m sorr-” Her rambling is cut off by Clarke grabbing her by her collar and pulling her in for a bruising kiss.

“You’re cute when you ramble. I’m totally okay with spending the day with you, and I love that you thought of us first on your only Saturday free.”

Lexa moves her hand to the back of Clarke’s neck then leans in for another kiss. She pulls back and looks softly into Clarke’s eyes. “I have weekends off now. I’m seven to four weekdays unless I get a case.”

Clarke lets out a whistle. “Come inside. I want to kiss you some more, maybe hear about all that. I’m sure Aden will love that you’re here too.” Clarke leads her back into the living room and to the couch. They both sit, Clarke so close that she is practically in Lexa’s lap. “I want to tell him you’re here, but I also want him to finish cleaning his room.”

“Ah. That’s okay. That means I can do this some more.” Lexa leans in and presses her lips against Clarke’s, who smiles into the kiss and hums. “You’re like, the best kind of drug, you know that?” She mumbles as she moves her kisses from the doctor’s lips to her jaw. Clarke’s hands find purchase in long brunette locks just as Lexa gently tugs on her earlobe with her teeth.

Clarke grips harder on her hair. “You keep that up, and you’re never leaving here tonight.”

“Your threats aren’t intimidating, they’re sexy as hell.”

“Hey, Clarke, I’m going to head to the store. Do you need any-” Octavia rounds the corner into the living room and stops in the entry way. “Oh, hey Lexa.”

Lexa pulls back from kissing Clarke’s neck to greet the girl. “Hey, Octavia.” 

Octavia clears her throat lightly. “So, anyway. I’m going to the store, you need anything, Clarke?”

“Um. I don’t think so.”

Octavia nods then turns to leave the room. “Cool. Have fun you guys!” She tosses over her shoulder as she goes.

“Hmm. Now where were we?” Clarke leans forward and presses her lips back against the detective’s. She moves from lips to her jaw then toward her ear, then swings her leg across the taller girl’s lap to straddle her. “Do you even know what you do to me? I’ve never had zero ability to keep my hands to myself before.” She gently bites down on Lexa’s bottom lip and receives a low moan.

“Fuck, Clarke.” Lexa breathes out as she slips one of her hands up Clarke’s shirt. She is pleasantly surprised to find no bra. The blonde above her moans softly as fingers brush over her nipple. “Oh my god, you’re gonna be the death of me.”

“Can you die from too many orgasms?” Clarke rasps against her neck.

“I don’t know. You’re the doctor.”

“Okay Mommy, my room is cwean!” Aden yells from up the stairs.

“Oh, right. The very unsexy side of having a four year old. Interruptions just when it’s getting good.” Clarke laughs as she peck the brunette’s lips quickly, then dismounts her lap. “Aden, someone is here to see us.”

There is a thunder of feet down the stairs and then an audible gasp as Aden rounds the corner into the living room. “Wexa!” He shouts as her runs toward the couch, then flings his body at the detective. “You came back!”

“Hey- whoa!” She opens her arms just in time to catch him. “Hey kiddo.”

“I never get a greeting like that.” Clarke feigns offense.

Aden sees her playful hurt expression and switches laps quickly, wrapping her in his tiny arms. “I wove you mommy.”

“I love you too, little man.” She kisses the top of his head and smiles into his hair. “What should we do today, hmm? Lexa wants to hang out with us for a few hours.”

He thinks briefly before answering her question. “Can we go to da park and feed da ducks?”

“Sure, what do you want to feed them today?”

“How about wettuce? Dey reawy reawy wiked it wast time.”

“Yeah, I think we have some lettuce. Let’s go check out the kitchen.”

Lexa looks between the two, slightly confused. “Don’t ducks eat bread?”

“No, Wexa! Bread it bad for ducks. You gotta give em veggies!” Aden explains excitedly as he hops down from the couch. “Come on, I can show you.” He leads her to the kitchen by her hand and straight over to the fridge. He opens it and roots around in a drawer to pull out a head of romaine lettuce. “Ah ha!”

Lexa chuckles at his cute personality. “Okay, we have lettuce, now what? Can we just give it to them like this.”   
“No, Wexa. We gotta cut it up! You or mommy, I’m not supposed to touch the knife.”

“Good idea.” Lexa takes the lettuce from him and moves to the counter next to where Clarke is watching them with a firmly placed smile. Aden runs around the counter and climbs onto the bar stool in the opposite side. He stands up on the chair and leans over the counter. 

“Okay Wexa, you gotta cut wittle squares like this big.” He holds his thumb and index finger apart to show her that he means about an inch and a half. 

“Alright. I think I can do that.” She begins chopping and he starts explaining how the ducks at this particular park like lettuce and corn, but don’t really seem to be a fan of the peas. Clarke holds open a ziplock bag as Lexa finishes and instructs Aden to get his shoes and some jeans on. They are out of the house and walking down the street in no time. Lexa puts herself on the street side of the footpath, Aden in between and Clarke on the inside. The young boy has claimed one of each of their hands. They make it to the park in about fifteen minutes, and then to the pond in another five. The ducks are gathered under the small foot bridge that crosses the pond, so they stand at the top and Aden begins throwing the lettuce down one piece at a time. It goes that way for about ten minutes. The adults just stand in silence, watching him enthusiastically toss the lettuce.

“Mommy wook!” He points out toward the middle of the pond. “Baby duckies!”

“I see them. Make sure to throw smaller pieces for them.” He nods seriously then sets the bag down, pulls out two pieces of lettuce and rips them both in half. He waits for the ducklings to be in the prime position, then starts tossing the lettuce off the bridge. He carries on that way until he reaches the bottom of the bag. He hands the last to pieces over, one to Lexa and one to his mother.

“Best for wast.” He tells them with an excited grin. Clarke runs her fingers through his hair and smiles proudly as she drops the lettuce from the bridge, Lexa lets hers go at the same time. “Time to pway, Mommy?”

“Yeah, time to play. Let’s go to the playground.” He runs ahead excitedly, then turns to look for permission. The playground is only about a hundred yards from the bridge, and there isn’t anyone else around at the moment. “Go ahead. We’ll be right there.” Clarke leans into Lexa and loops their arms together as they walk. “You’ve been awfully quiet so far.”

The detective peels her eyes off of Aden as he runs ahead to meet concerned cerulean eyes. “Hmm. Oh, I am just enjoying this.” She smiles softly and presses a kiss to the blonde’s temple. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to this park before.”

“O, Bell, and I basically grew up here. Now Aden too.” They walk together in the quiet of the warm spring day until they reach the edge of the playground. Aden is swinging slowly and watching a butterfly as it flits around him. “So we never got to discuss your schedule change. What happened?”

“Oh right. Well, Kane decided that he wants me and Anya working alongside him more. He works Monday through Friday, so that’s when he wants us there too.”

“Well, that’s cool. Did I ever tell you that Marcus and Callie are my godparents?”

“What?” Lexa looks over to her, shock evident on her face. “Really?”

“Mmhmm. Marcus and my dad are best friends. Have been since college. Don’t worry. When I told my dad I had a date with you, I made him promise not to say anything to Marcus until we became official.”

Lexa moves into her space and wraps her arms around the doctor’s waist and kisses her cheek softly. “So did you tell your parents we’re official already?”

“Not yet. It’s only been like sixteen hours, Lex.” Clarke laughs and swats her bicep lightly. “I was planning on telling them tomorrow at brunch, actually. I think I will have to anyway, there is no way Aden is going to be able to contain his excitement about the fair and the ducks.”

 

They spend another hour in the park before Clarke decides it’s time to head back home. It’s around five when they walk through the front door to the historic home to find Octavia sitting in the living room with her laptop and paperwork for her classes spread out.

“I do not miss those days.”

“Me either.” Clarke agrees. “Want a snack, O?”

“Depends, what is it?” Octavia pulls the headphones from her ears and looks toward Clarke’s retreating figure.

Clarke shouts from the kitchen. “Apples and peanut butter.”

“Then yes.” Octavia looks toward Lexa and points to the seat next to her. Lexa raises a brow but obliges. “So, Lexa.”

“Is this the part where you threaten my life if I hurt your sister? Because I don’t plan to, trust me. I’m not a cheater, I’m not wrapped up into anything shady, I genuinely enjoy her company and I really like Aden as well.”

“Well, you’ve taken all my fun away.” The younger woman mock pouts. “Want me to watch the munchkin so you two can go up stairs?” She waggles her eyebrows suggestively.

“I uh-”

“Yes. Here’s your snack. Aden, watch a movie with Auntie O. Lexa and I need to talk alone for a while. Come on Lex.” Clarke practically yanks her from the couch, then up the stairs. Once they are in her room, she closes the door and pins Lexa to it.

“You have the best sister ever.” She manages to breathe out in the time it takes to remove Clarke’s shirt. “Remind me to get her a thank you card or something.”

Clarke laughs as she pulls Lexa forward towards her bed by her belt loops. “I’ll get her one and we can both sign it.”

“I’ve unleashed a monster, haven’t I?”

“Oh yeah. One that needs constant sexual gratification. To keep it perfectly sated requires at least two orgasms a day, one each. More on the weekend.”

“Looks like we’ve got some work to do then.”

Clarke smirks as the back of her knees hit the side of the bed. “Looks like it.”

 

_ 7:30pm _

 

Lexa sips her beer as she waits for Raven at the restaurant they agreed upon. She glances at her watch and then takes another sip. Her best friend had a reputation of being fashionably late to everything. 

They have been best friends since sophomore year of highschool, when Raven moved to the east side of Arkadia. Lexa was on the soccer team and Raven wanted to be involved in some sort of sport, so she asked Lexa to introduce her to the coach. When she did, the coach decided Lexa needed to be Raven’s buddy for the week, get her acclimated to the school. When the week passed, they still hung out. They were completely inseparable all through the rest of highschool and then college. It was in their last year of undergrad, that she introduced Raven to her new friend from her Academy class. 

Anya had moved to specifically join the Arkadia PD. There was a lot of positive buzz about the department and the equality it strived to achieve. She met Lexa on orientation day and they became friends quickly. When Lexa mentioned her friend, who was also into women, was single, Anya practically demanded to meet her. And the rest, they say, is history.

Raven enters the moderately busy restaurant and quickly scans the room, finding Lexa with a nod.

“Hi.” Raven gives her a quick hug before sitting down. “How was your day off?”

A goofy grin spread rapidly across the brunette’s face. “Good. It was really good.”

“You went back to Clarke's and got laid again, didn't you?”

“I. Uh-” She clears her throat lightly, then sips her beer. “It wasn't my intent to get laid again. But, yes, that did happen.”

Raven raises a questioning brow. “What  _ was  _ your intent then?”

“To hang out with her and Aden. Which we did. We walked down to the park near their house, he fed the ducks and played on the playground while we talked. Then we went back to her place. Her sister, Octavia, tried to give me the ‘if you hurt my sister’ lecture, but then offered to watch him so we could go up stairs. I was trying to politely decline, because as I said, that wasn't my intent, but Clarke beat me to it, accepting the offer. So when we were done, and showered might I add, we went back down and played games and stuff with him.”

“Huh. You're getting pretty domestic real quick with Clarkey. You and Costia were sleeping together for like four months before you went out in the daylight with her.”

“You make me sound like an asshole, you know that?”

“You kind of were in college.” Raven laughs. “Everyone kind of is in college.”

“True.”

“In all seriousness, I'm glad you're happy.”

“Thanks Rae. Now, tell me what Anya did.”

Raven looks at her with confusion. “What makes you think Anya did something?”

“Because.” She takes a long sip as the waiter approaches. They quickly order both food and more drinks. “Don't worry, I ubered. Anyway, because the last time  _ you _ asked  _ me  _ to dinner and not the other way around, was when Anya was hanging out with that Katrina girl when you first started dating.”

“Ugh. Don't remind me of that skank.”  She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Anya hasn't done anything wrong. I wanted to talk to you because my mom called me.”

“Oh.” Lexa’s eyes widen in surprise. “Wait, does Anya know?”

“No. This may sound shitty of me as a wife, but she wasn't there for all of that. She doesn't even know why I don't talk to her. When I tell her about the phone call I am going to have to relive the whole experience, and I want to make a clear, level headed decision before I open those old wounds.”

“Okay. What did she want?”

Raven sighs heavily. “Money. She got out and she needs money to get back on her feet.”

“Before I comment, how are you leaning on the answer to that?”

“Right now, I don't know. Honestly I don't.”

Lexa looks at her for moment before sighing and relenting. “Well, I don’t think you should. I know she’s your mom and there is part of you that feels obligated to help her, but she is still just using you. If it hadn’t been for Sinclair, what would have happened to you as a teenager?”

“I know. I just…” Raven trails off.

“Feel obligated. I know. You need to tell Anya though. I understand it’s hard for you to rehash but you have to.”

Raven sighs and drops her head slightly. “You know how hard it is for me to talk about, but I know you’re right.”

“You should tell Anya she’s not in trouble. While you’re at it you should discuss the fact that you want a baby.”

“How did you-”

“Really? How long have we known each other?”

“Okay, okay. You’re right.”

 

_ Sunday, May 29th 12:45am _

 

Lexa is finding that the more time she spends with Clarke, the less time she actually sleeps on her own when she is supposed to. This night is a prime example. She is up late doing laundry that had been neglected for quite some time. She had already cleaned her kitchen, bathroom and washed the bedding in both her room and the guest room when her phone chimed.

[Anya 12:45am] You up?

[Lexa 12:46am] That’s the kind of message you send a booty call at nearly one in the morning.

[Anya 12:47am] So that’s a yes.

[Anya 12:48am] And who said this isn’t a booty call?

 

Only approximately eight minutes passes before there is a light knock on her front door. Lexa raises a brow, not expecting her friend to come over. She was expecting more texting or a phone call at most. She quickly makes her way over and pulls open the door.

“I brought the lube. Prepare the booty.”

Lexa laughs as she pulls her front door open allowing Anya to enter. “Gross.”

“I actually brought beer.” She holds up the black liquor store bag as proof or her purchase. “Got time for me?”

“Always. Come on in.”

“It’s raining.” Anya notes nonchalantly, but Lexa gets the hint.

“Patio it is then.” She leads the way and opens the sliding door, then heads back inside. Anya finds a spot at the large table and kicks her feet up on a second chair, beer resting on the table next to her. She pushes the bag open and pulls out two beers as Lexa emerges with a bucket of ice for the other four. “You drive over here?”

The older blonde nods slightly as she says, “Yep.”

“Guest room sheets just got washed.” Anya nods stoically and takes a sip of beer. Lexa waits for a while to see what her friend has to get off of her chest. However, after ten minutes, it never happens. “You and Rae talk?”

“Sort of.” She sighs, then shakes her head in disbelief. “She told me her mom called and wanted money, but she was going to say no because she wants a baby, and that’s going to be expensive.”   
It is Lexa’s turn to shake her head. “God damn it Rae.”

“So I told her to pump the brakes and let’s take these one at a time. I asked her to explain the situation with her mom.”

“Did she.”

Anya shakes her head no. “Not really. I mean, kind of. She said that her mom got into drugs after her dad died, then got sort of clean when she was with Sinclair. Didn’t really act like a mom and left the parenting to him. Which she seemed okay with, she speaks very highly of him.”

“Yeah.” Lexa breathes out. “He was a great guy. Never once treated her as less than his own daughter.”

“Yeah. Well, it was like as soon as she said his name she shut down. Said she didn’t want to talk any more. Then locked herself in our room and wouldn’t let me in. She came out about an hour later and said she was going to come over here, so I could have the bed. I told her no.” Anya’s eyes swell slightly with tears. “I didn’t want her to drive in her emotional state. She looked so broken, Lex. It broke my heart.”

“Ahn.”

“Please tell me what I need to know.”

Lexa looks to her pleading friend as she swallows her drink of beer harshly. “We were almost done with highschool, two months from graduation. Her mom relapsed, got high and caught the house on fire. Sinclair ran in to get her and Raven out. He ended up dying in that fire, as well as her junkie friend. She almost killed Rae too. She got two counts of criminally negligent homicide and one child endangerment. Eight year sentence. Raven came to live with me until high school was over then we went and lived at the dorms.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s why she always gets official invites to Woods family functions and talks to your mom and dad sometimes.” Lexa nods, happy knowing her family has been so welcoming to her friend. “They got a whole lot of love to give don’t they? If ever there were the right people to adopt…”

“You could do it too, you know.”

“Maybe, we really didn’t get there tonight. I’ll try again tomorrow, now that I know the story. Thanks.” Anya leans over and clinks their drinks together. “Cheers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know how cops schedules work. I figure detectives work a schedule that is sort of consistent unless they are actively working a case? Who knows. For the sake of the story, lets just go with my theory.


	6. Cuddles and Concessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progressing the relationship forward. Someone gets to meet the family this chapter. Also, plenty of Aden fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No joke guys, this chapter got away from me. I thought about splitting it into 2 but then I was like... Nah, I haven't updated in a while. So with out further ado, 7,300+ words....

_ Sunday May 28th, 8:45am _

 

Sunday morning is always the highlight of Clarke’s week. Whether she is just waking from a peaceful night’s sleep or rushing in the door from her overnight shift at the hospital, she loves it all. It is one hundred percent thanks to her sister. Her best friend. Sure, they are one in the same, but still Octavia was to thank. 

She slowly rises from her bed and makes her way to Aden’s room. At this time in the morning, her very consistant son is bound to be on the cusp of waking or already up. She sits on the edge of his bed and begins to run her fingers through his hair. She smiles down at him as she does so, watching as his face slowly twists with the signs of waking. His eyes flutter open after about ten minutes and he smiles softly.

“Morning Mommy. Happy Sunday.” He whispers. He knows the routine by now.

“Morning little man. Ready?”

He lifts his little arms up slowly. “Ready.”

She scoops up her son and slowly walks out of the room and to the other end of the hall. Aden has put his head down on her shoulder as she rubs slow circles on his back. She reaches the door at the end of the hall and knocks twice before gently opening it. She gets the end of the bed and reaches down to tickle her sister’s exposed toes. Octavia kicks lightly, still sleeping as Clarke rounds the foot of the bed and sits on the side that is unoccupied. She lays Aden down next to Octavia, then lays beside him with her body turned toward the middle of the bed. Aden moves forward and presses a kiss to Octavia’s cheek.

“Auntie O. Time to wake up.” He whispers as he pats her shoulder gently. She slowly stirs, one eye opening and a smile spreading across her lips. She loops one arm around him and pulls him into her body as she turns over. She kisses the top of his head as he giggles.

“Morning.”

This tradition of Sunday cuddles was birthed about three months after Aden came home. It was early, Clarke had just gotten home from her shift. She went to check on Aden, but found his bed empty, so she checked Octavia’s room, where she found them both cuddled up. It was in that moment of watching them slumber together that she realized how little time she had actually spent with her sister since he came home. They have been in a constant circle of passing responsibility with little to no personal interaction between the two adults. Clarke vowed to herself to never let that happen again, and crawled into Octavia’s bed with her two favorite people. When Octavia woke that morning and found a groggy Clarke and a giggling two year old in her bed, she knew something was up with her sister. They talked later, while their parents distracted Aden, and made a vow to always make a point of having time for the two of them, even if it's just a few hours on Sunday mornings.

“Morning O.” Clarke says through a yawn. “Mom and Dad are coming here for breakfast this morning. Something about some lunch with some high school friends.”

“Can we have a pajama and movie day after? School has been killing me.”

“I’m okay with that. What about you Aden?”

“Yes.” He nods seriously. “Movies with Auntie O and Mommy are da best. Can Wexa come too?”

“Sorry little man, it’s just us today. Lexa has to go see her family today.”

Octavia mock gasps. “How are you going to deal with the separation?” 

Clarke reaches over Aden and playfully shoves her sister. “You hush.”

“Seriously though, you’re happy, I can tell. Not that you weren’t happy before, you just seem happier now.”

“I am very happy.” Clarke runs her fingers through her son’s hair and kisses the top of his head. “How’s the paper?”

The younger adult Griffin rubs her face and sighs. “It’s like, the worst case of writer's block that I’ve ever had.”

Clarke hums as Aden snuggles into her side. “What’s the class?”

“Professional Ethics.”

“Ooh. That one is rough. What’s your paper on?”

“Failure to report and hypothetical outcomes.” Aden starts to lightly snore in between them and both women look down at him with a smile. “I haven’t written a single thing yet and it’s due Friday. Ten thousand words.”

“Ouch. Well, when thinking about the topic of failure to report you have to think about a scenario you might be borderline mandated to report. Like if a kid is emotionally showing borderline signs of abuse but they could also be signs of a developmental issue as well. You never want to accuse a parent wrongly.”

_ “Girls, Aden. We’re here.” _ Jake’s voice booms through the house and Aden immediately pops up from the bed and scrambles for the door. The women rise from the bed and make their way down the stairs as laughter from Aden erupts through the house.

“Hey mom.” Octavia wraps Abby in a hug and gets a kiss on the cheek in return.

“Hi girls.”

Jake continues his tickle tirade on Aden until the young boy says he going to pee. The adults laugh and Aden runs off toward the bathroom. “Hey Princess. Warrior Princess.” He hugs and presses a kiss to each of his daughter’s temples. 

They all move to the kitchen and make quick work of whipping up a pancake breakfast. They all take a seat at the table, Aden climbs into a chair on his knees and rocks side to side happily eating his pancake.

“So, Aden, what did you get up to this week?” Abby asks as she sips her coffee.

“At school we made pictures of fishies. And detective Wexa went to da fair and da park wif me and mommy.” Both parents look to their daughter who stops eating mid bite and puts her fork down with a clink against the plate.

Abby raises a brow. “Detective Lexa, huh?”

“Yes! She's da best. She shooted da baskets and won Barry for me!”

“So, yeah. Um….” Clarke clears her throat lightly. “I decided it was okay to introduce Aden and Lexa. Little man, tell grandma and grandpa where you watched the fireworks from.”

“Wexa put me on her shoulders! I was so high! Higher dan da cow she helped me pet.” Aden explains animatedly as he eats the fruit on his plate.

Jake looked between his grandson and his two daughters. “He let her pick him up?”

They both shake their heads in affirmation. “Clarke sent me pictures, then I saw it myself when they got back here. I was baffled.” Octavia explains between bites.

“Well, that sounds like quite the time. You all had fun then?” Jake inferred. “What your status with Lexa?”

“Um, we’re official as of Friday night.”

“Well, I want to meet her. Sooner rather than later.” The grandfather huffs.

“Jake, Lexa is a good person and a very dedicated police officer. I’m sure Marcus can back me up on that.”

“Detective. Wexa is a detective, gramma.”

“Oh yeah, Monkey? What does a detective do? Tell gramma.” Jake goads.

“Wexa said a she's a detective cause she did a good job at being a regular old powice officer. Now she finds the bad guys the powice officer can't. She’s wike a super cop.”

Clarke has a smug smirk in place and Octavia chuckles at Jake and Abby’s surprised faces.

“Well then.” Abby finally chuckles. “That a perfect explanation of what a detective does for a four year old.”

“She's good with him, mom. Really good.”

 

_ 10:30am _

 

“Rae?” Lexa slowly makes her way into her best friends apartment, trying her best to figure out what she is going to say. “Raven?”

“In here.” Her voice comes from the bedroom. She makes her way back and slowly pushes the door open to find her best friend curled up in the middle of the bed.

“Hey.” She walks over to the side of the bed and kicks her shoes off before sliding in facing Raven. Lexa opened her arms and was quickly taken up on her offer to cuddle.

“Hey. Where's Anya?”

“I left her at the gym. She gave me an hour to come check on you before she comes home. So let's talk.” 

Raven stays quiet for a few moments. “I feel like shit, Lex. Like a failure.”

“What exactly do you think you've failed at?”

“I don't know, maybe communicating with my wife.” She deadpans.

“Okay, maybe you've had some trouble there. But Anya isn't upset, she just wants to help. To understand. I told her… well a lot of it last night.” Lexa rubs circles in Raven's back.

“You did?”

“I did. If it wasn't Anya, I wouldn't have, you know that.”

“Thank you.”

Lexa hums, then stays quiet for a minute, still running circles. “How do I help you get through this conversation?”

Raven sighs. “I'm okay now. I didn't really sleep last night, I was thinking about what to say to her.”

“Okay. Good.”

 

_ 4:15pm _

 

Luther Woods is in the garage working on his ‘67 Chevy truck when Lexa arrives. He is a large man, 6’3" and still muscular for a man in his early sixties. He worked for the city as a natural gas pipeline technician for 35 years before he retired. He is always one to speak slow and thoughtfully. Any time any of his kids did something wrong, he would sit them down and sit across from them silently until they confessed everything. He was slow to anger and quick to praise. The epitome of a proud father. He never missed a game for any of his three children, and even wore pink when Amanda’s volleyball team played a tourney supporting breast cancer research. He is a serious man who loves his family above himself, something Lexa always admired about him.

“Hey Dad.” Lexa makes her way into the garage.

“Hey kiddo. Hand me that wrench, will ya?” Lexa complies and hands over the tool, then leans over the engine compartment to watch him work. “Finally got the right battery harness. Only took three months.”

“The struggle is real.” She jokes earning a chuckle from her father.

“That it is. What brings you by kiddo? Didn't you just get off shift?”

“Well no. I got the night off last night and our captain gave Anya and I a new schedule. Monday through Friday.”

“Wow. Living the lush life now, huh?”

She chuckles. “Yeah. I came by to talk to Mom about Raven. Is she inside?”

“Yeah. I think she's making that chicken you like for dinner if you want to stay.”

“Thanks Dad. Oh, by the way. I’m not single anymore.” She admits with a smirk.

“Well, all be damned. Way to go.”

Lexa rolls her eyes. “Need anything before I head in?”

“No, I'm good. Thanks kiddo.”

 

_ Monday, May 29th 11:13am _

 

“Woods, you wanted some of my time?” Captain Kane welcomes her from behind his office desk.

Lexa clears her throat lightly. “Uh. Yes, Captain. It's not really work related, but I wanted to let you know so you didn't think I was hiding something.”

Kane eyes her curiously. “Very well, you have my attention.”

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I am dating your god-daughter Clarke. I didn't know she is your god-daughter until Saturday afternoon, but yeah. She’s my girlfriend.”

Kane’s jaw goes slightly slack. Then a giant grin spreads across his face. “I should have realized it sooner. You two will make a wonderful couple.”

Lexa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. “I really like her, sir. And Aden.”

“They are both pretty great. Woods, treat her right. I'll tell her the same about treating you right too next time I see her. Oh and don’t let Jake fool you, he’s a teddy bear. Now, as far as work goes. Late last night, Jaha and Miller pulled a DB found in an alley. Since you and Forrester haven't got an active case right now, see if you can help them out will ya?”

“Of course, Captain.”

Lexa makes her way back to her desk and shoves Anya’s feet off their perched position on her desk. “Where are Wells and Nathan?”

“Uh, didn't know it was my turn to babysit.” Anya rolls her eyes at her partner. 

Lexa puts on her blazer then clips her gun holster to her belt. “Let's go find them, Captain wants us to help them with their case.”

Anya groans in displeasure. “Why is it that we have to do everyone's jobs for them?”

Lexa shrugs and pulls out her phone, quickly finding the number she's looking for and placing it up to her ear. “Hey, Miller, where are you guys?”

_ “Down on 3rd and Main at our crime scene. Why?” _

“We don't have a case and Kane told us to help you guys out.”

_ “Cool. We were just about to release the body to the coroner. You want us to wait so you can see everything how it is?” _

“Yeah, you said 3rd and Main? We'll be there in ten.”

_ “That must mean Anya’s driving. I'll make sure to clear the road for her.” _

“Thanks Miller.” Lexa chuckles as she hangs up. “Come on. Let's go.”

Anya groans again. “After we see the crime scene, you're buying me lunch.”

They make their way toward the elevator as the younger brunette shakes her head. “Don't you think, after this weekend, that should be the other way around?”

“Yeah. Except, I'm not that mushy.”

“I could have been cuddling my girlfriend yesterday, instead I was third party cuddling you and your wife. You do owe me, asshole.”

Anya goes quiet for their elevator ride. In fact, they are halfway to the crime scene before she speaks again. “We had a good talk after you left yesterday. She told me more about how she grew up, and it really hurt to hear because she deserves all the happiness life can give her. We decided to meet with her mom, together, and ask her to not contact Raven anymore.”

“I think that's for the best.”

“We talked about kids too. First, we’re going to buy a house. Then, we’re going to meet with an adoption agency.” Anya looks to her partner and sees her grin. “Don't look at me like that, you knew this was coming.”

“You guys will be great parents, I know it.”

“Thanks, now let's go see what sort of clusterfuck the wonder twins have pulled us into.”

Lexa rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “And just like that, the moment is ruined.”

The partners make their way past the crime scene tape and over to where Wells Jaha and Nathan Miller are standing, looking over their notes.

“Hey guys.” Lexa greets and shakes both detective’s hands. “What do we have?”

“This isn't pretty. We have an approximately thirty five year old, hispanic male, shot eight times.” Wells explains as both Anya and Lexa slowly walk the scene. “Looks like the perp emptied the clip because have all twelve casings and a bloody footprint. Victim has no ID on him, so we were thinking robbery.”

“Twelve pulls on the trigger is a bit overkill for a robbery.” Anya states plainly. Both she and Lexa move to the body and lift the sheet covering him. They both share a look and then look to the other detectives and state in unison. “Call the Captain.”

“What, why? What's wrong?” Miller questions.

“This is Officer Alejandro Rios from Arkadia PD.”

“Shit.” Wells dials Kane and steps away.

“We got a dead cop. Fuck. I knew my birthday week was going to suck.” Miller rubs his temple. “We have no witnesses yet, just the person who lives in the building who heard the shots and called 911.”

Anya stands, pulls on latex gloves, then pulling the sheet back further. “Woods, that might be the reason for the overkill. If the robber took his wallet and opened it and realized he was a cop. Could have spooked and emptied the whole clip to make sure Rios couldn't ID him.”

“Maybe. But robbery to murder in a big jump too.” Lexa looked over the body. “Fly is open and the button on his pants is undone. This is the Red Light Runway. Miller, have some officers round up the girls.”

Miller eyed her. “You think a working girl did this?”

“No, but he may have had a go with one of the girls that got interrupted by the perp. Bruising and abrasions on the knuckles indicates he punched something before he died. Might have been one of the girls and then her pimp did this.” The fresh duo continues to survey the scene for the next fifteen minutes.

“Woods, I asked you to help them, not make my life harder.” Kane shouts as he approaches the scene. The coroner had just picked up the body on the stretcher. “Who is it?”

“Officer Alejandro Rios from Arkadia PD. Beat cop, decent guy. Separated from his wife and one kid I think.” Anya explained.

“I've already contacted the Arkadia Police Chief. He'll meet you guys at the coroner’s office. I want to know what happened here and I want to know now. None of you work anything else until this is solved and who ever did this arrested.”

“Yes sir.” The four detectives reply in unison.

“You guys want to take the body and we’ll take the canvassing? Since you know the Chief?” Miller asks as soon as Kane walks away.

Anya sighs. “You guys just want to avoid a Chief. Yeah, we’ll take it. Come on Woods.”

“Don’t forget to check with the business owners across the street to see if they have surveillance.” Lexa commanded.

“Right, and round up the girls. We got it Woods.”

The women make their way back to their car and Anya takes the passenger seat. “They don’t have it.” She huffs.

“Probably not. Call Ryder, I saw him out there. Give him instructions for when they round up the girls.”

“Good thinking.” Anya makes the call as Lexa follows the coroner van over to the office. Once she is off the phone, Lexa looks over at her with a furrowed brow. Her partner has a look of deep concentration. “What?”

“Call the hospital and see if anyone came in with either a gunshot wound or defensive wounds that match what Rios would have been able to inflict.”

The blonde nods and hums as she finds the contact in her phone. “You were made for this job, you know that?”

“I do my best.”

_ “Polis General Emergency department, Harper speaking.” _

“Hey Harper, this is Detective Anya Forrester. I was wondering if anyone has come in since around 2am with injuries consistent with a fist fight or a bullet wound?”

_ “There is woman, came in about an hour ago, she has what looks like graze. She insists it’s a cut from a knife not a gun. Dr. Griffin didn’t seem convinced.” _

“She still there?”

_ “Yes.” _

“Working girl?”

_ “Seems so.” _

“Okay, thanks Harper. We’ll be right there.”

_ “See you soon, Detective.” _

“We have a possible. We need to go to the hospital and check it out. The Chief will have to wait.”   
Lexa sighs. “You’re telling Kane that.”

“Whatever, your girl is the doctor.” Lexa doesn’t respond, but her partner can see her small smile.

 

_ 12:55pm _

 

“Dr. Griffin.” Lexa greets her girlfriend as professionally as possible. “I am looking for a patient of yours, a Stacy Sims?”

“Of course Detective, she’s in bed three. I just finished her stitches.” Clarke relays and Anya moves but Lexa stays put. She waits for Anya to get out of earshot. “Hi.”

“Hey, you. Rough Monday?”

“It’s going to be a rough few days. We are investigating the death of a Arkadia PD officer. So I might be a pretty occupied for a bit. It’s all hands on deck until we make an arrest.” She offers a sad smile to her girlfriend. “Please don’t hold it against me.”

“I would never.” Clarke looks to Lexa with conviction, the softens some. “So my dad wants to meet you.”

Lexa smirks. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Aden told my parents all about you over breakfast yesterday. It was totally cute.”

“Somehow I have a hard time imaging that kid not being cute.”

“hmm. True.” Clarke clears her throat as she spies her boss over Lexa’s shoulder. “So yeah, the wound looks to be a graze from a bullet, not a knife injury as the patient claims.”

“I see. Thank you Dr. Griffin.” Lexa catches on quickly and moves away from Clarke toward the bed her potential witness maybe in. Anya is sitting next to the bed and the young woman named Stacy is laying back with her hands over her face, crying.

“Stacy look, I don't think you shot the guy okay. Just tell us what happened.” Anya is using her ‘it’s okay sweetie’ voice. It always unnerves Lexa because it’s the opposite of her friends personality. “We’re not here to put you in jail for what you may or may not have been engaged in leading up to whatever happened.”

“Okay, alright. I'll tell you.” The woman sits up slightly, mascara running down her face. “So this guy, don't know his name, he picks me up over at Main and 6th. We go to the alley on 3rd and I do my part, ya know. He opens his wallet to give me money and I see his badge. I yelled at him cuz he's a cop, ya know. My girl Sammy she got jammed up by this cop that kept threatening to arrest her if she didn't provide him with free services. I'm not about that life, ya know? I work for money, not empty promises.”

Anya stays calm and tries to refocus the witness. “We understand. Then what happened?”

“Then, this guy comes up outta nowhere. Says ‘You're a cop? And your with her?’ Then he pulls a gun and starts reciting some bible passage or something and cop guy lunges at him. They throw punches and then the gun goes off and I'm out. I take off down the street and I hear a bunch more pops. I didn't even realize I was bleeding til I got back to my… um… daddy. It wouldn't stop so I came here.”

“Okay Stacy, that's really good. What did the guy look like?” Lexa questions as Anya takes notes so fast it's almost comical.

The young woman thinks for a second. “I'm not going to get in any trouble at all right? If I tell you everything else?”

Lexa shakes her head. “No. You're not getting in any trouble. I promise.”

“White guy with a beard. He had a hoodie on. He was tall though, like 6’4" or so and skinny.”

Lexa nods. “If we put him in a line up, could you ID him?”

“Probably. I guess.”

“Good. Detective Forrester is going to get all of your information and then we'll let you go home, okay? I'll check with Dr. Griffin and make sure you're good to go.” Lexa nods to her partner then steps out of the curtain. She looks around until she spots Clarke at the nurse's station laughing with Harper as she makes notes in a chart. She quickly makes her way over and clears her throat lightly. “Hey Harper. Dr. Griffin.”

“Detective Woods! Long time no see.” Harper greets. “How's life?”

“Fantastic. How's Monty?”

“Really good. I think he's going to propose soon.” Harper beamed. “I shouldn't guess that, should I?”

Lexa shrugs. “He's a smart guy, you're probably right. Clarke, is Miss Sims good to go?”

“Yeah. I just need her signature. Come on.” Clarke leads her back to the bed, then explains what the patient needs to sign. “Okay, you're good to go.”

 

_ Tuesday, May 30th 3:17am _

 

“So this is our suspect, Jonathan Michael Leer. Thanks to surveillance cameras at the deli across from the alley we were able to run facial recognition software against the DMV records. He's got no priors, but does have a history of mental illness. Four stints in county mental on 51-50 holds initiated by family members.” Anya explains to the swat team as they prepare to force entry into the suspects home. “Obviously he's armed and dangerous, so let's be vigilant on this one. Officer Rios may not have been from our department, but he's still one of us. Sins and all. Everyone ready?”

“Yes, ma’am!” 

“All right, let's move. Alpha team with Woods and I on the front door, Bravo with Miller and Jaha on the back.”

 

_ 8:30am _

 

_ Lexa calling… _

“Hey, Lex.” Clarke answers her phone as she puts down her paintbrush. She was working on a surprise for her girlfriend.

_ “Hey gorgeous. What are you up to?” _

“Oh, just at home. How's the case?”

_ “Closed actually. I laid down in bed about an hour ago, but I can't seem to sleep.” _

“You've been awake for more than twenty four hours and you can't sleep?”

_ “Seems so.” _

“I know what you need. Cuddles.”

_ “Oh yeah? Is that an offer?” _

“Hmm. I could be persuaded. How do you feel about buying me lunch?”

_ “I'll buy you a steak dinner if you come over here.” _

“I really need to learn my bargaining power with you.” Clarke laughs into the phone. “I'll be over in about thirty.”

_ “I'll be waiting.” _

 

_ 9:12am _

 

A soft knock pulls Lexa’s attention from her phone. She quickly moves from the couch to answer the door. 

Clarke is on the other side of the door with a wide grin. She presses a quick kids to the brunettes lips before entering. “Hey.”

“Hey you.”

“Come on, I'm going to cuddle the shit out of you.” She holds out her hand and Lexa takes it quickly with a laugh. The doctor leads them upstairs and the brunette takes in the sight before her. Clarke definitely came dressed for cuddling. She’s wearing grey sweatpants and a baby blue John's Hopkins sweatshirt. Lexa has navy blue joggers and a shirt on. The blonde flops down in the middle of the bed with a happy sigh. “Oh, your bed is comfy. You couldn't sleep on this?”

“Situational not environmental, I think.” Lexa crawls into her bed, wraps her arms around her girlfriend's waist, and tucks her face into the crook of Clarke's neck. “How was your Sunday and Monday?”

“Good.” The blonde hums as she feels soft lips press against her skin. “Nothing very exciting.”

“Well, that's no fun. I thought you were going to come over here, wrap me in the blanket that is your warmth and regale me with tales of epic adventures.”

“Did you just say regale? Oh my god that's the cutest thing ever. Keep kissing my neck like that and I make up whatever take you want to hear.”

“It’s only epic if it’s true.” Lexa leans up and looks deep into blue eyes that are dancing with amusement. “What were you up to before I called? Aden’s at preschool right?”

“He is, I was painting.”

The brunette’s eyes went wide. “I interrupted your creative process? Why didn’t you just tell me to shut up and go to bed?”

“Hey, stop it.” Fingers tangle in brown locks as Clarke pulls the detective in for a chaste kiss. “You didn’t interrupt anything. I was working on something for you anyway.”

“For me? Really?”

“Mmhmm. For your birthday. You wanted something for that wall in the kitchen right?”

“Clarke.” Green eyes soften and linger on the soft pink lips of the blonde. Lexa slowly moves in, gently pressing her lips over those of her girlfriend. They lay there, trading slow, sweet kisses for a while. Clarke eventually makes Lexa stop and take a nap telling her she was waking her up by two o’clock otherwise the brunette would never be able to sleep that night.

 

_ 3:00pm _

 

“Thank you, again, for coming over to see me. I know it was only two days that I didn’t get to spend any time with you, but I missed you.” Lexa drops a kiss on Clarke’s neck from her spot behind the blonde, who is opening up take out containers at the kitchen counter.

“No need to thank me. I missed you too.”

The brunette nuzzles in a little deeper. “Can I take you on a date tomorrow night? We can make it family friendly if you want.”

“I never thought you would be so cuddly.” The blonde laughs. “Yeah, I can make room in my schedule for you. Aden would love to hang out with you again, I’m sure of it.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. He really likes you. You should have heard him Sunday, all matter of factly correcting my mom when she called you a police officer. He told her exactly what you told him a detective does. It was the cutest thing.”

“Sounds like it. I wish I could have seen it.”

Clarke goes quiet for a few seconds, then turns to face Lexa. “Well, how about you join us for brunch this Sunday? We can do something Saturday you can stay over that night, then head over with us Sunday morning.”

“Well your dad does want to meet me. Are you sure you are ready to let me in on your family tradition? You can say no, I won't be offended.”

“I'm sure. Are you sure you're ready?”

“I always ready for everything.”

Clarke swats her arm playfully. “Yeah, yeah.  So how about you and me tomorrow night, then we can do something with Aden on Saturday?”

Lexa leans in and plants a quick kids to the blonde’s lips. “Sounds perfect.”

 

_ Saturday June 3rd, 12:15pm _

 

“Wexa! Wexa you're finawy here!” Aden shouts excitedly as Clarke pulls the front door open. He launches himself into the arriving woman's arms with an excited squeal. The brunette lifts him and he wraps his arms around her neck as she steps inside the house and pecks the boy's mother on her cheek. “Mommy, Wexa is here.”

“I see her, little man.”

“Mommy said you have a surprise for us today. Is dat true Wexa?” The boy pulls back and looks at her with hopeful eyes.

“I do.” She sits on the couch with the boy in her lap. “Would you like to know what it is?” He nods excitedly with a big smile across his face. “Well, how about you go put on this new shirt I bought you and some jeans and your shoes.” She opens the bag in her lap and hands him a t-shirt. He hope off her lap and bolts in the direction of his room.

“You didn't need to buy him that.”

“Oh, not just him.” She tosses a shirt at Clarke too. “I have one on as well.”

“Lexa.” Clarke chides. “Seriously?”

“Clarke, you're scolding me like I'm a starving college student. I'm a grown woman with expendable income. If I want to spend money on my girlfriend and her awesome kid, I will.” Lexa retorts, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly.

“Okay, okay.” Clarke talents, throwing her hands up in surrender. “You're right.”

“Good, now go put on your shirt. It's almost time to go.” Lexa smiles, proud she won. 

Fifteen minutes later, everyone is in the car and they are off for their secret, well secret to Aden, destination. Polis happens to be a decent sized city in Northern California, and they happen to have a Triple-A baseball team. On their date Wednesday, Clarke told Lexa about Aden’s love for baseball and that he had never been to a real game. The local Triple A team happens to be a farm team for the San Francisco Giants, Aden’s favorite team. So Lexa purchased two Polis Pirates shirts, she already had one, and called her sister. It takes about thirty five minutes to get from the Griffin residence to their parking spot at Flokru Field. Aden is still in the dark about where they are going since he had never been to the stadium and they don’t usually televise Triple A games.

As Clarke applies sunscreen to her son, Lexa grabs her mitt from the bag she brought along. Aden sees it and eyes her curiously. “Wexa, are we gonna pway catch?”

“Hmm. Maybe, if we’re lucky.” She gestures toward the field with her head as Clarke finishes her sunscreen application. “Come on, let’s go.” He holds both of their hands as they make their way toward the entrance. “My sister left our tickets at will call, so one quick stop.”

Clarke nods. “What does she do again?”

“Group ticket sales for the field. Party planning, basically.”

“Cool. I bet some of the events here get wild.”

Lexa chuckles. “Yeah, there are booze here.”

There are three steps to getting into the field. First get the tickets, then through the security checkpoint, then scan the tickets. Once they are finally through all of that, they make it to the concourse.

“Okay Aden. Ready to see where we are?” He nods seriously and Lexa picks him up to avoid him getting trampled in the crowd of people. She’s got him in one arm and a hold on Clarke’s hand with the other. When his eyes finally land on the field, he lets out a loud gasp.

“Wexa! Wexa! Wook! Basebaw!!!” There happens to be an old couple in some seat right in front of where they stopped to look at the field. They both turn around with wide smiles and watch as Aden takes in the field with a look of pure wonder. “Mommy wook, first base is right there!”

“I see it. Do you want to go check everything out Aden? There is a lot to do here.”

He looks apprehensive, like if he looks away from the field, it’s going to disappear. “We get to watch the game, right Wexa?”

“Yes sir. We get to sit right down there.” She points down toward the home dugout along the first base line. “That’s why I brought my mitt, just in case someone hits a foul ball.”

“Reawy?” Lexa nods and his smile grows. “Okay mommy, wet’s check it out.”

As they turn to leave, the old woman sitting in front of them locks eyes with Lexa. “Your son is very cute.”

“Oh, I. Uh-”

“Thank you.” Clarke cuts off Lexa’s nervous fumbling and tugs on her elbow. “Come on babe, let’s go find some activities.”

“So, um.” The brunette clears her throat. “There’s a kids area over by right field, we can check that out. The game doesn’t start for about forty five minutes.”

“Wexa, is dere a Coke swide wike at the Giant’s park?”

“No, buddy. There’s not. But they do have a twisty slide. How does that sound?”

“Good. Dat sounds good.” They make it over to the playground and let Aden run off and play while the two women stand toward the side watching.

“You got a little flustered back there Lex, you alright?” Clarke smirks, obviously amused at the situation.

Lexa clears her throat and straightens up her posture. “I uh, I just know that you said you didn’t appreciate it when Finn overstepped that boundary so I -”

“Whoa, hey. Two different things.” Clarke cut her off, grabbing her hand. “If people are assuming he’s your kid you know what that means to me?” Lexa shakes her head, indicating she didn’t know the answer. “It means you’re being so great with him, people wouldn’t know the difference. I appreciate that, like… A lot. You and Finn will never, ever be the same in my book.”

Lexa blows out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Okay.”

“Now, want to grab some ice cream before the game starts? I don’t think Aden has ever had Dippin’ Dots.”

“Oh my god, yes. Let’s definitely do that.” Lexa presses a quick kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek and calls the boy back over to them. “Aden, how do you feel about a new, special kind of ice cream? You can usually only get it at fairs and ball parks.”

“Yes!” The boy shouts as he jumps in place. They make their way back through the concourse to the concession line and then to their seats. Clarke and Lexa are sitting in one seat each and Aden has taken Lexa’s lap.

“I kills me that you’re his new favorite.” Clarke feigns hurt. “I used to be his favorite.”

“Eh. I’m new and cool and a detective. He’ll get over it eventually.” Lexa smirks then kisses the blonde on the lips. “Or he won’t and you’ll have to.”

Aden finishes his ice cream just in time for the national anthem. He watches the game in pure wonder and excitement, pointing and telling his mother and Lexa about each play. The crowd around him, mostly older people, all joined in asking him about the game. After the seventh inning stretch and a mother mandated bathroom break, he was starting to get sleepy. At the bottom of the eighth started, the home team up by two points, a pitching change is announced over the PA system.

_ “Now taking the mound from the San Francisco Giants, right handed pitcher, Hunter Strickland.” _

Aden’s head popped up off of Clarke’s shoulder and his eyes follow the pitcher to the mound. “Grampa says Hunter Strickwand wooks wike For and frows wike Rod Beck.”

“He does look a little like a Hemsworth.” Lexa surmises his mispronunciation of Thor.

“He’s a Giant, Wexa, and he’s here!” The boy whisper yells excitedly. The man in front of him turns slightly in his chair and chuckles. The next inning and a half pass quickly and Aden gives them the replay all the way to the car. Once he is in his seat, he’s out like a light.

“He’s out, it’s early for him to be asleep.”

Clarke shrugs from the driver seat. “He can power nap til we get home then we’ll eat dinner and we can watch a movie. He’ll probably be out about half way in.” As they pull up to the house Clarke let's out a loud ‘huh.’ She turns into the driveway, then turns to Lexa. “My parents are here. Something is wrong.”

“Hey, don't jump to negative conclusions. If you're that concerned, why don't you head in and I'll get him?”

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks Lex.”

The brunette makes her way out of the car then into the back seat. She gently rouses the young boy from his nap. He crawls out of his seat and into her waiting arms. He asks for the ball that Lexa caught for him during the fourth inning give away, and she has to dig around the back seat for a bit to find it. Once he has the ball, she moves them both quickly into the house.

“Shot where?” Clarke nearly shouts.

A gruff, unfamiliar voice answers. “Left shoulder. I'm okay though. It was a live fire exercise mishap. I'm on two weeks leave before I have to go back and start physical therapy.” Lexa enters the house, boy on her hip, to find two unfamiliar adults along with Abby. She could only assume the older male is her girlfriend's father and then there is younger guy, maybe thirty. From the tail of the conversation she caught, her guess would be Bellamy. “Oh you have got to be kidding me. He let's her pick him up?”

“Uncle Bell is woud.” Aden buries his face in Lexa’s neck as Octavia and Clarke laugh at his statement.

“Hi, I’m Lexa.” She waves at both Jake and Bellamy.

“Lexa this is my brother Bellamy and my dad, Jake. You know my mom.” Everyone exchanges quick hellos.

“How long have you two been dating?”

Jake moves to take Aden from Lexa before Clarke answers. “Our first date was while Aden and O were visiting you.”

“Few months then. How long before he let you pick him up? Like two months?” Bellamy guesses. Everyone in the room exchanges guilty looks, everyone except Lexa who looks sort of smug about it.

“I only met Aden last week, and he let me pick me pick him up about an hour in.”

Bellamy’s jaw drops slightly. “You're lying right? Clarke?”

“Nope.” Clarke pops the ‘p’ hard. “We went to the fair last week.”

“We petted da cows and da goats! Wexa helped me wif da cow, cuz it wooked reawy big, but it wasn't. Den I was on her shoulders and the cow woulda wooked so tiny! Mommy, I'm hungry.” The young boy exclaims animatedly from his grandpa's hold.

“Okay A. Have you guys had dinner? I can make up some pasta or something? We didn't way either, obviously.” Clarke looks to her mother for an answer.

“That'd be great, honey. Oh and leave Lexa in here. O, go help your sister.”

“Oh no.” Lexa mumbles under her breath. “I was only mentally prepared for this to happen tomorrow.

Abby chuckles. “How many cases have I worked on that you investigated? Half a dozen or so? You should be more comfortable with me than this.”

“Oh, it's not you I am worried about.” She look Jake in the eye. “She’s his little girl.”

“She is.” Jake sets Aden down on the couch and sits next to him, gesturing for everyone to follow suit, and they do. “I trust her, and I trust Octavia. She said she's met you a handful of times and says the same things Clarke and Abby say. You're dedicated,  respectful and reliable. Some one that has a high level of integrity. I look forward to getting to know you so I can see those characteristics for myself. You may be a cop-”

“Detective, grampa.” Aden interrupts.

Everyone chuckles. “Detective. Please know that jail time doesn't scare me.”

“Jake.” Abby warns. “Reign it in.”

“No, it's okay. Look, Mr. Griffin, I can appreciate your position here, but I'll tell you just like I told Octavia. I can promise I will never intentionally do anything to hurt Clarke or Aden. I care deeply for both of them already. I can only see those feelings growing.”

Jake eyes her sternly for a moment, then watches curiously as Aden gets up from his seat, goes to Lexa and tucks himself into her side. “Well, that’s all any of us could ask for really.”

“Wexa, can I pick the movie for after dinner.”

She drapes her arm around his shoulders and pulls him close. “Of course.”

“Can we make a fort too? Mommy said next time you stay over we can.”

“Oh, yeah. She did. How about we wait until after dinner to make a fort. That way your grandma and grandpa and uncle Bellamy can have somewhere to sit.”

He nods into her side. “Okay Wexa.”

“You’re good with him.” Bellamy observes aloud.

“I try to be. I have practice though. Four, soon to be five actually, nieces and nephews.”

“Oh wow. Family gatherings must be a blast.” Bellamy chuckles. “I still can’t believe he took to you that fast.”

 

_ Saturday August 26th, 2017 4:45pm _

 

“Are you nervous?” Lexa nudges Clarke with her shoulder as they approach Lexa’s parents house.

“To finally meet your entire family, no. Not at all. I mean it’s not intimidating.” The blonde mumbles.

“Mmhmm. Very convincing. Aden are you excited?”

“Yep!”

Today is Lexa’s 28th birthday and her family is throwing her a party. She has spent the last few days telling Aden all about her nieces and nephews and the playground in her parents backyard. Sean, Chris and Lexa all split the cost and built the wooden structure about three years ago as a Mother’s day gift to Mary after she mentioned that lugging three kids to the part was getting difficult and soon there would be four of them because LJ was on the way.

“So when do I get to open that? I can’t wait to see what you made me.” Lexa is eyeing the painting, currently wrapped in brown paper, as Clarke carries it toward the house.

“Soon, Lex. Soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta, so all mistakes are my own.


	7. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. Like so much.

“Mom, Dad, this is Clarke. Clarke, my parents Mary and Luther.”

Mary steps forward and throws her arms around Clarke. “Hello dear, I have heard so many good things about you, I am honestly shocked that Lexa was able to woman up and lock you down.”

“Well thank you. It’s very nice to finally meet the people who helped mold her into the wonderful person she is.”

“Lexa? Wonderful? I don’t know about that…” Luther jokes, nudging his daughter’s side with his elbow.

“Thanks dad.” The birthday girl rolls her eyes.

“I’m kidding. I love you kiddo.”

Aden reaches up and tugs at the bottom hem of her shirt.“Wexa, where are da kids?”

“Oh, right.” She picks up the boy and holds him on her hip. “Aden this is my mom, Mary and my dad, Luther. Can you say hi?”

“Hi Wexa’s mom and dad.”

The couple smile at him. “Well hello Aden. Aren’t you just the cutest thing.” Mary coos. “Come on with me now, I’ll show you where the kids are playing.” She puts her hand out for Aden to take as Lexa puts him down. They walk away and Mary turns back. “Clarke, don’t think this means I forgot you’re here.”

“Clarke do you want me to take that for you? It looks a little awkward to hold like that.” Luther gestures to the painting.

“Oh, just point me to where the gifts are going. I can handle it from there.”

Luther nods with a smile. “Sure, right through here. Everyone is out back by the grill when you’re done. Happy birthday, Alexandria.”

“Thanks Dad.”

The younger couple enters the den and Clarke places her gift with the pile on the table. “Wow, your family must love you.”

“Bet I can’t guess what this is.” Lexa holds up what is a poorly wrapped fishing rod. “From my dad, I bet.”

“You like fishing?”

Lexa shrugs. “With him I do. I don’t really go unless it’s with him.”

“Clarkey, Clarkey Clarkey. Welcome to the Woods home. I hope you’re ready for the inquisition.” Raven and Anya walk into the room with beers for them. “Happy birthday, bestie.”

“Thanks Rae. Hey Ahn.”

“Hey, happy birthday.”

“Why do you look so proud of yourselves?” Lexa furrows her brow at the two.

“Our offer on that house over on Pinecrest got accepted today.” Anya explains. “We’re going to be home owners.”

“Congratulations you guys.” Clarke high five’s Raven. “We’re going to be neighbors.”

“Are we now?” Anya raises a brow.

“Pinecrest is two blocks over from me.”

The four women catch up for a few minutes then make their way out to the back yard where the rest of the family is gathered.

“Look who’s finally decided to join us. Happy birthday Stumpy!”

“Thanks Sean. Everyone this is Clarke, babe this is… well, everyone. Sean is the obnoxious one, Chris is obnoxious number two, Amanda is over there with the kids, and Stephanie is holding the newest Woods, Amelia. Sophia is the one sitting on top of the structure over there, Maggie is the one trying to follow her. Liam is probably behind it digging a hole, and LJ is laying next to Riley, my parents dog. So yeah, welcome to the nut house.” Lexa points to each of the people in her family as she introduces them. Each adult give a friendly wave.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but I’m definitely buttering Stephanie up first. She’s got the baby.” Everyone laughs as Clarke moves toward the infant.

“No buttering up needed. Here, you can get your baby fix anytime.” The raven haired woman offers the baby quickly. “She’s a space heater and it’s far too hot for that.”

Clarke sits with Stephanie and holds baby Amelia as they chat. Lexa makes her way around to her family members to say hello.

“Lex! Come join me at the grill.” Chris shouts across the yard. She shakes her head and grabs a fresh beer before walking over to her brother in law.

“Hey, Chris. How’s it going?”

“Decently. Did the dynamic duo tell you they offer was accepted?” He beamed at her, obviously proud of his work.

“They did. Thank you for helping them, I owe you one.”

“Come on now Lex, you don't owe me a thing. You help us out with the kids all the time.”

“Wexa, can I pet da doggie?” Aden appears at her side, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Of course, Aden. He's a good dog.” She watches him nod then walk over to Riley. He squats down then slowly reaches out to pet the lazy Australian Shepard’s ear.

“Parenting looks good on you.” Chris teases.

Lexa shakes her head dismissively. “None of that now. We definitely aren't there yet.”

“Have you told her you want to be?”

Lexa snorts out a laugh. “I think she knows.”

“Have you told her you love her yet? And don't you dare say you think she knows.”

“I haven't, no.”

“But you do. I can see it. I know I'm not your brother but I've known you for what? 11 years now? I can tell.”

Lexa nods as she watches Clarke and Aden interact with her family like they've all known each other for years. Just as she is about to look away and turn back to Chris, Clarke looks up at her and smiles.

“You should tell her, Lex. Sooner rather than later. It's already been like 6 months.”

“I think I will tonight.”

“On your birthday? You trying to double down or what?” She looks at him, confusion evident, until he elaborates. “You're going to get birthday and first ‘I love you’ sex. I'll pray for you and your ability to function tomorrow.” He laughs and clasps a hand on her shoulder. Yeah, she loves her family.

About two hours later, after help from the children in blowing out her candles, Lexa is diligently unwrapping gifts, trying to get through the stack. She’s already opened the fishing pole, an array of clothing items, several sets of tickets to sporting events, and a gift certificate to Top Golf. The next one is from her parents.

“Aden, come here.” The young boy makes his way over and climbs into her lap. “This is from my mom and dad. Can you guess what it is?” He shakes the package, then squeezes, then turns it over before shaking his head no. “Go ahead and open it up.”

“But it's your birfday, Wexa.”

She smiles softly at him. “I know and I want to share with you right now, okay?” 

“Okay.” He works quickly to unwrap the gift, pulling it from the paper. “It's socks.” He holds it up for everyone to see.

“It is sock. Every Christmas and birthday my mom and dad give each of us socks to remind us of people who are less fortunate than us. Tomorrow, I'm going to go down to the shelter and donate these to someone who needs them. I have some other stuff at home that I'll take too.”

“Mommy says we shouwd awways be kind to strangers. Dats very kind Wexa and Wexa’s parents.” Aden looks to the older couple in the room who are next to his mother.

Mary fondly thanks him before handing Lexa the last gift, her painting. “Alright, Clarke said she did this herself and I'm excited to see her work.”

“I've seen her work, you should be excited.” Aden hops off her lap and goes back to his mother. Lexa rips the paper off and stands slack jawed in front of the canvas. Her family all murmurs things about how beautiful, realistic, impressive the piece is but Lexa just stares silently.

“It's the first night Lexa met Aden.” The artist explains as she runs her fingers through her son's hair. “He doesn't really let people pick him up or hold him, but with Lexa it was instantaneous. We were leaving when the fireworks started, so she put him on her shoulders so he could watch while we walked. I snapped a picture of them when we were in the parking lot. It's my favorite picture that I've ever taken. So I recreated it.”

“It's really beautiful Clarke. You're very talented.” Amanda compliments. “You may be in the wrong profession.”

“I love my job far too much. Art is a nice hobby.” Clarke bites her lip, realizing her girlfriend still hasn't spoken. “Lex?”

The brunette slowly turns toward her family. “Clarke, this is amazing! I love it so much. It's the single greatest gift anyone has ever given me.” She moves across the room to kiss her girlfriend.

“Gross. I'm going back outside.” Raven announces and the rest if the family follows as Clarke throws her arms around Lexa’s neck, kissing her back with vigor.

Lexa pulls back and places her forehead against the slightly shorter woman's. “I love it and I love you.” She whispers and smiles as Clarke closed the distance again.

“I love you too.”

Then Lexa kneels in front of the blonde boy still at Clarke's feet. “And I love you too, Aden. I look forward to seeing you grow everyday.”

“I wove you too, Wexa.” He throws his little arms around her neck and she stands while holding him to kiss Clarke again. They keep it short and sweet and the blonde rests her head on the unoccupied shoulder. The three stay like that for a few minutes until Riley comes in and nudges Lexa’s leg.

 

_ 8:15pm _

 

“Mommy, Wiam said he pways basebaw. Can I pway too?”

Clarke sits on the side of his bed and tucks him in. “Tee Ball maybe. You want to try that?”

“Yes! Can you and Wexa and Auntie O come to aww my games too?”

“I'll look into it, okay?”

“Okay mommy. Can Wexa read me my story?”

“Of course I can, little one.” The brunette peels herself from the doorway where she was leaning. “Did you have fun today?”

He nods. “Your daddy is so funny, Wexa. And so is Wiam. And your mommy is reawy reawy nice.”

“I very glad. Okay let's read this story.” Clarke gets up, giving Lexa her place on the bed and moves out of the room to go downstairs to start a load of laundry. She folds the load of towels from the dryer before heading back up the stairs. She leans in the place where Lexa had been before Aden asked for her and she takes in the sight before her. Aden is tucked into her side and she has that arm around his shoulder and is running her fingers through his hair. Once the story is over, she kisses his forehead then removes herself from the bed. Clarke moves in to kiss him goodnight as well.

“Night night Wexa and Mommy. I wove you bof.”

“We love you too, little man.”

The two women silently move to Clarke's room, exhausted from the day.

“Did anyone give you any trouble today?”

Clarke cocks her head to the side. “Like what?”

“You know, ‘the talk.’ I got it twice from your family.”

The blonde chuckles. “Oh. That. Yeah, Amanda and Stephanie double teamed me while your dad stood behind them and nodded with his arms crossed. Sean laughed the whole time and kept asking if I was sure I wanted to date such a nerd.”

“Fair is fair. And Sean is an asshole.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She laughs again.

“This is seriously the best birthday I've ever had.” Lexa admits as soon as the door is closed. “The only thing that could make it better is shower sex followed by a several rounds out here.”

“You're on Champ. Happy birthday.”

 

_ Wednesday August 29th, 2017 6:45pm _

 

“Mommy said I get to play baseball, Wexa!”

“Oh yeah?” Lexa raises a brow at Clarke.

“Apparently I was just in time to sign him up for fall ball.” Clarke shrugs nonchalantly. “Practice is Tuesday afternoon and games Saturday morning starting mid September. It goes for ten weeks.”

“Well that sounds fun. Are you excited Aden?”

“Yes! Will you come to da games Wexa? Pwease?”

Lexa pats his head as she rounds his chair, taking her usual spot next to him for dinner with the pair. It’s become a regular event, Lexa spending most nights with the Griffin’s. “Every one of them, I  promise.”

 

_ September 23rd, 2017 9:13am _

 

Clarke and Octavia are setting up their folding chairs as Aden and his teeball team are getting ready for the game. It’s the first one of the season and there is a delay due to the coach for the other team forgetting to bring the actual bases to the field.

“Mommy when is Wexa going to be here?”

Clarke looks softly at her son, who looks concerned and is worrying his lip. “I don’t know, Aden. I’ll try to see where she is okay? But she is working a very important case, that’s why we haven’t seen her all week. If she doesn’t make it today, don’t be sad okay. She loves you very much.”

He nods then turns to run and join his team. Octavia sits down with a huff, a giant bag of sliced oranges in her lap. “You haven’t heard from her?”

“No, not since yesterday morning. The case they caught, it’s a doozy.”

Octavia nodded understandingly. “Yeah, I get that, but she can’t make him promises and not keep them.”

“I don’t think she had any intention of not keeping it when she promised. She’s been working so hard with him on catching and throwing. It sucks for her just as much as it does for him that she isn’t here.”

Jake arrives with a kiss to each daughter’s head and sets his chair next to Octavia’s. “Where’s the detective?”

“Detecting.”

“Oh. I see.” He looks between his daughter’s sad smile and his grandson on the field. “I’m sure she wants to be here.”

The Aden’s team is out in the field first, he’s playing first base since he can actually catch the ball, he’s not left handed, but it’s teeball so it’ll work for now. The league is more concerned with skill development than actual competition, so they don’t bother keeping score. They let all the kids swing until they hit the ball, then run to the base. It takes about twenty minutes to get through the first three outs, simply because four and five year old's are uncoordinated. As the teams switch the kids all run to their parents for water and snacks, Aden opting for Octavia’s oranges, then head straight back to the small dugout.

When Aden gets up to bat, the three adults waiting for him sit forward in their seats. He swings once and misses, barely over the top of the ball. The second swing connects perfectly and sends the ball right past the second baseman. He takes off running, he rounds first with the encouragement of his coach then second as well, remembering to keep his eye on the third base coach. He stops at third with a tired heaving of his chest. His family high fives and looks incredibly proud. The next kid knocks him in on his fourth swing.

Aden runs out of the dugout and Clarke holds her arms open as he runs past her. “Wexa did you see dat!?” He shouts as he flings himself into her arms.

“A stand up triple. I saw. Fantastic job, little one.”

“She looks exhausted.” Octavia whispers to Clarke as they watch Lexa and Aden interact.

Clarke nods, smile firmly in place. “I’m sure she is.”

“Mommy I hit it.”

“I saw Aden. Go on back to the dugout now, you have to be with your team.” He nods and runs back. “How long have you been here?”

“I got out of my car just as he made contact. I was on the phone with Anya. Sorry I missed the beginning.”

“You’re fine. To him, all that matters is that you came at all. You look tired. Have you slept?”

“Not since yesterday morning. I told Captain Kane I need a few hours to rest or I was going to burn out.”

Clarke stands from her over-sized camping chair. “Here. Sit.” Lexa does as she’s told and Clarke quickly deposits herself into the brunette’s lap, she’s wrapped in strong arms almost immediately.

“You’re warm. If I fall asleep it’s your fault.” She whispers then places a series of quick kisses on the doctor’s neck.

“Only about fifteen more minutes, then O can drive my car and I’ll drive yours back to the house and you can sleep in my bed, okay Lex?”

“Mmhmm. Whatever you say dear.”

“Can I take Aden for ice cream after?” Jake asks hopefully.

“Only if you take me too.” Octavia adds.

After the game the adults did just that. Aden and Octavia went with Jake and Clarke took Lexa back to the house. As Clarke slipped into the bed to be Lexa’s little spoon she entwined their fingers over her stomach.

“Lex, why didn’t you just go home?”

“Hmm?”

“When you told Kane you needed a break, you could have just gone home and slept undisturbed and for longer. Why didn’t you just do that?”

“Well, I made Aden a promise, for one.  And two, I wanted to see you both, it’s been almost a week. I will gladly drive the extra time to do that, no matter the circumstances because I love you. I can’t get this...” She squeezes the woman in front of her tighter. “At my apartment.”

“Lex…” Clarke turns around in the brunette’s hold.

“Look, I know when I get a case I'm absent and a terrible girlfriend, but I promise I'll work on it. For today though, just know that I want to be here with you all the time.” Clarke pulls back quickly once Lexa finishes her little speech and reaches inside the bedside table.

“Please know that I think you are a phenomenal girlfriend. I seriously can't believe you're real sometimes. You treat Aden better than most actual parents treat their own children. You are patient and kind and loving. I want you to have this, because I want you to always feel welcome here. 2am or 2pm, I don't care because you make me so incredibly happy.” She hold up a Captain America key chain with a single key on it.

Lexa’s eyes go wide once she sees it. “That’s for me?” Clarke only nods in response. Long, unsteady fingers reach out to gently take the key from her girlfriend. “Thank you.”

 

_ Monday October 23rd, 2017 11:45am _

 

“Griffin!” Dr. Echo Glass yells across the ER. “We have an incoming ambo, gunshot wound. Let’s go.”

Clarke makes her way out the emergency room door, coming to a stop next to Echo. “What do we know?”

“Just that its a GSR.” The taller woman replies while eyeing her warily.

“What aren’t you telling me? Don’t you dare say ‘nothing,’ I’ve known you too long, Echo.”

The brunette sighs and shakes her head. “Don’t freak out but it’s a cop.”

“A cop? Did they say who?”

“Look, all I got was female office, age twenty eight, shot twice in the chest, peirced the vest, once in the neck. They are also bringing in one that was DOA.” Clarke visibly paled at the description. “I’m sure it’s not Woods and Forrester. Stay with me Griffin.”

Clarke stood with a clenched jaw, staring at the fire lane, waiting for the ambulance. “Lexa wouldn’t have had a vest on. She doesn’t have a case. She texts me when she has a case.”

“Griffin, do I need to get someone else?”

“No. I’m good. I’m here. It’s not her.” The ambulance pulls in, leaving no time to debate it any longer. The wait until it comes to a stop then Echo wrenches the door open.

The EMT starts talking as soon as the door is open. “Adult female, three gunshot wounds, BP is dropping fast.”

Clarke’s eyes go wide. “Lexa?”

“Hey Clarke.” Lexa is in the ambulance next to the EMT with her hands pressed to the wounded officer’s neck.

“Detective Woods here refuses to let go. She’s managed to slow the bleeding from the neck enough to get her here.” They slide the officer out of the transport and make it inside the ER.

“Alright Woods, were going to switch on three. Ready?” Echo waited for a nod. “One. Two. Three.” Dr. Glass takes over applying pressure while Clarke severs the velcro straps of the vest with scissors. She lifts the chest piece off, and assesses the damage.

“Page Dr. Griffin. She’s going to need a lung repair. Echo we need to intubate. Can you stop the bleeding on your end?”

“It’s clamped. I’m working on stitching but there is too much damage to normally intubate. You’re going to need to do a tracheotomy.”

“Woods, you need to give them room. Come one, let’s get you cleaned up.” Harper gently leads Lexa by the elbow out of the room and into a nearby scrub room. “I’m going to get you a clean shirt. Just scrub okay?” The detective nods as Harper walks out of the room. After scrubbing the blood off of her hands, she leans on the wash basin and sighs with her eyes closed. It’s a few minutes later that the door opens again. “So I took this from Clarke’s locker. She’s sort of famous for having extra clean shirts.” Lexa takes the shirt then looks at it and chuckles. “What’s so funny?”

“This is my shirt.”

“Oh. Yeah, that is funny.” Harper smiles, soft and genuine. “So, your dirty one can go in that bin right there, okay? They’re taking that officer to surgery now. Clarke’s going up with them, but she will be right back down, she and Abby have a rule about never being in surgery together. You can hang out at the nurses station till she’s back if you want.” And just like that, Harper is gone again.

 

_ 12:05pm _

 

“Lex. Hey, what the hell happened?” Clarke squats in front of her girlfriend, who is seated next to the nurses station.

“Anya and I were at lunch. There was a squad car across from Molly’s at the apartments. Domestic disturbance, I think. We were eating on the patio when we heard gunshots. I guess Ontari and Austin escorted the guy off the property. He went to his car around the corner and got his gun, came back and fired into their vehicle. Austin was hit in the head, he didn't make it. Anya and I responded and fired that him. She secured him while I administered first aid.”

“You did great. She’s alive because of you.” Clarke squeezed her knee, eliciting a small smile. “Where'd you get that shirt?”

“Harper got it from your locker for me. Where'd you get it?”

Clarke looks at her sheepishly. “You're drawer.” Lexa raises an eyebrow. “What? It smells like you. It’s comforting, especially after I lose a patient or something.”

“Hey.” The brunette slips two fingers under the doctor’s chin, forcing eye contact. “I’m glad you take comfort in me.”

The arrival of the next ambulance breaks their moment. Nurses and doctors all make their way toward the door. The call came in a few minutes ago that this transport is carrying the body of the fallen officer. Life saving measure had been attempted at the scene, but failed. Everyone stands by solemnly as the gurney covered in a white sheet is wheeled in, Anya just behind it.

“Captain is on his way with the Chief. We’re both going to be put on leave while they do an internal investigation.” Anya comes to a stop next to her partner.

Lexa nods knowingly. “Perp?”

“Flesh wounds, shoulder and bicep. They’ll bring him here in a bit.”

 

_ 9:15pm _

 

Lexa slides into the bed and wraps her arms around Clarke. She kisses the exposed shoulder and then the blonde’s neck. They stay perfectly still in that position for a while, until Lexa breaks the silence. “I take comfort in you too.”

 

_ Friday October 27th, 2:45pm _

 

Lexa is freaking out. Like, completely freaking out. She and Clarke have been dating for over eight months now, but today is a big day. She is still on administrative leave while the Internal Affairs Department reviews her case. So with all the time in the world on her hands, she offered to pick Aden up from school when Octavia mentioned needing to work on her project. She realized later that she and Aden had never been alone for any extended period of time before. Sure they had bonded over the last few months but she had never been the one solely responsible for him.

Clarke would be home by 6:30, so she really only had three hours of watching him to deal with.

“Why am I freaking out? I watch all the kids all the time.” Lexa shakes her hands by her side, then shakes her head and reaches for the door of the preschool.

“Hello, can I help you?” A young brunette with a very pale complexion approaches the counter by the front door where Lexa is standing.

“Oh. Yeah, hi. My name is Lexa and I am here to pick up Aden Griffin.”

“Oh yes. Hi Lexa. My name is Maya. Octavia mentioned you would be picking him up this afternoon. Aden talks about you all the time.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. He’s very fond of you.” She leans over the counter a bit to whisper to Lexa. “He’s my favorite, so I really pay attention when he talks.”

The detective chuckles. “Well, I can appreciate that. He’s my favorite too.”

“Wexa!”

“Aden! Ready to head home?”

“Okay Wexa. Miss Maya, can I give Wexa my picture now?”

Maya bends down to four year old level and smiles at the boy sweetly. “Of course Aden. It should be dry.” He runs off, Lexa assumes to retrieve the picture, as Maya rights herself then looks to the detective once again. “We used water colors today. He’s quite the little artist.”

“He’s got two good teachers. You and Clarke.”

“Oh, Clarke is amazing. She should really be making millions and have her work in museums.”

Lexa chuckles, remembering her family’s reaction to the painting on her birthday. “Yeah, she’s pretty great, but she also really loves her job. I think if you forced her to paint all the time, she’d hate it.”

“Here Wexa! Can we put it on da fridge?” He reaches up from behind the counter, picture waving around in the air.

She takes the picture from him gently and gestures for him to come around the counter. Once he is in front of her, she squats down to his level. “So what do we have here? I see your house, and is this your mom?”

“Yes! And dats auntie O and dats gramma and grampa. And dats you. It’s aww my famiwy.” Aden excitedly points at each person in the picture. Lexa’s jaw drops slightly at his exclamation that she is part of his family. It’s not untrue, she knows. They have spent more than a fair amount of time together in the past several months, but somehow the gravity of him saying it weighs heavier than all of that. It takes her a moment to collect herself.

“And who is this?” She points to the four-legged addition to the picture.

“Dats Ben.”

“And who is Ben?”

Aden rolls his eyes, like she should already know the answer. “He’s a snow dog, Wexa.” 

She raises a brow to the statement. It’s pretty specific that he would draw a husky with a name. “Who has Ben now?”

“Probabwy his mommy. Dat’s usuawy where puppies stay before dey go home wif a famiwy, right?”

Ah, now she understands. “So are you saying you want a husky puppy, and you want to name him Ben?”

“A snow dog, Wexa.”

“Yes, a snow dog. They are called huskies, little one.”

“Okay, den yes. I want a husky puppy.”

“Well. You’ve got to talk to your mommy about that one. Come on, let’s go back home.”

 

They make the drive home, Aden chatting about his classmates and their antics, without incident. Lexa makes him a snack and places the drawing on the fridge. After snack time, Aden chooses to play three rounds of Candyland, they switch to coloring. Aden chooses his Avengers coloring book and hands Lexa a Star Wars one. They are each coloring their pictures for a while before Aden breaks Lexa’s concentration.

“Wexa, can I cowor you?”

“What?”

“Your art doesn’t have any cowor.” He points to her arm tattoo and holds up the marker in his hand.

“You want to color my tattoo?” He nods excitedly. “Okay, that’s okay with me. Remember that you aren’t to color on any surfaces besides paper with our permission, okay?”

“Okay Wexa.”

 

That’s how Clarke finds them, Lexa with her arm band colored in, laying on her stomach while Aden colors in her back tattoo that he can get to around her sports bra. He’s got his chin propped on one hand as he strokes the blue marker around the largest circle of the tattoo while he is also on his stomach. 

“What is going on in here?”

“Wexa’s tattoos need cowors Mommy. Wook how pretty dey are now!”

Clarke crosses her arms over her chest as her hip comes to rest against the couch, smile plays across her lips. “It is very pretty Aden. Are you nearly done?”

“Awmost.”

“Well, I’m going to shower real quick then we can start dinner. Carry on.”

The water runs down Clarke’s back as leans forward under the shower head. Her day at the hospital was one of those days and she is trying to cleanse away the awful memories. She has one hand on the wall as she rubs the other over her face. She is so focused on the feeling of the water across her skin, that she doesn’t register the door of her bathroom opening and closing with a light click. She doesn’t register the almost imperceptible sounds of Lexa undressing. She misses how the shower door pops open with a slightly metallic twang behind it. So when her girlfriend’s arms slip around her middle gently, she jumps with a gasp.

“Sorry. Sorry. I thought you would have heard me.”

The doctor reigns in her breathing and relaxes into the hold. “It’s okay. I was just thinking.”

“Bad day?”

Clarke sighs. “Terrible. Where’s Aden?”

“With Octavia. She just got home.” Lexa kisses each bare shoulder then moves up the right side of the blonde’s neck. “I told her you had a rough day and I was coming to check on you.”

“How’d you know?”

“When you have a rough day, your shoulders slump some until you can shake it off.”

“Oh right. You’re a detective.” Clarke hums as Lexa’s hands wander the expanse of her skin. Across her stomach, up her chest to cup full breasts, then back down slowly. Tenderly. All the while lips never stopping their ministrations. The doctor turns her head to capture full, determined lips in a deep and unending kiss.

“I’m going to make you feel good.” Lexa breathes out. “God I love you.”

“I love you too.”

 

They emerge refreshed, renewed. As they make their way downstairs, Clarke realizes she missed something. “You rinsed all of the ink off and I didn’t get to see Aden’s finished product.” A small pout crosses her lip as she stops in her tracks on the stairs. Lexa, how is two steps ahead of her, stops and turns back to her.

“Don’t worry. I told him he could do it again sometime AND your sister took pictures.”

_ “LEXA! Please come answer your phone before I throw it out a window!”  _ Octavia yells through the house and the brunette turns and moves quickly. As she rounds the corner into the kitchen and Octavia is holding it out like it’s last week’s garbage. “Thank god. Make it stop.”   
“It’s Raven. Hey Rae.”

_ “Lexa. Finally, Jesus.” _

“Sorry, I was otherwise occupied.” She smirks at Clarke across the counter.

_ “Ah. Nice. Hey, so hypothetically speaking, would you be free to swing by tomorrow to help Anya and I put together some furniture for the foster kid Anya and I may or may not be taking in?” _

“What?! Of course Rae. How many hands do you need?”

_ “In addition to yours? Uh, a few. Definitely someone who can paint a wall.” _

“Hold on, let me see if Clarke and Octavia are busy.” Lexa drops the phone to her shoulder and muggles the receiver. “The wonder twins are taking in a foster kid and need help getting ready. Are you free to do some manual labor tomorrow?”

“Of course. Oh, this is so exciting. O you in?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Me too Wexa!”

“Rae, we have three adults and one child, ready and willing.”

_ “Awesome. Come over anytime after ten.You know how I like my beauty sleep, Woods.” _

“We’ll be there.” 


	8. New Family and the first Holiday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FLUFF TIME

_ Friday October 27th, 11:45pm _

 

“O, I really don’t know why you’re stressing out so much. You nailed every answer. You’ve got this test in the bag.” Earlier in the night Lexa had volunteered to help Octavia study for her upcoming test. She had been freaking out all of dinner that she was going to fail it on Monday. Clarke did her best to assure her that wasn’t true, but was unsuccessful. So Lexa offered to quiz her, to prove either way if the younger woman was ready or not. Turns out Octavia is more than ready.

“Thanks Lexa. I appreciate you doing this for me.”

“Of course. So what is it you want to do after you’re done with school. All I know is you’re getting you’re Master’s in social work.”

“Oh right.” Octavia leans back into the couch and runs her fingers through her hair. “When I was in school, I had some issues adjusting. People weren’t very nice to me and Bell because we’re adopted. I started acting out, fighting a lot of them. I didn’t want to listen to anyone about any of it, but there was one school counselor who didn’t give up until she got through to me. I want to be that person.”

Lexa nods as she takes a swig of her beer. “That’s very noble of you.”

“I just want to make a difference.” 

“You will.”

After the intense round of quizzing and conversation with Octavia, Lexa is finally slipping into Clarke’s room and locking the door behind her. Clarke is propped up on top of the covers against the headboard, reading some sort of medical journal. Lexa glances her way, but instead of interrupting her focus, she simply moves to the dresser to get sleeping attire. Lexa changes quickly then saunters over to Clarke’s side of the bed, pressing a kiss to her temple as she plugs in her phone. The doctor hums as the detective climbs over her to settle on what has become her side of the bed. Lexa lays on her side and takes to drawing shapes on Clarke’s pillow. It takes Clarke a few more minutes to finish her article, then she leans over and places it on the bedside table before scooting down and turning on her side to be eye to eye with her girlfriend.

“Hey.”

Lexa smiles and brushes a lock of wiley blonde hair away from the gorgeous face in front of her. “Hi.”

“How’s the quiz go?”

“Your sister doesn’t give herself nearly enough credit. She’s incredibly intelligent.”

Clarke sighs then shimmies just a little bit closer. “She always has some sort of self esteem issue. We have all worked on it with her, but she always seems to doubt herself one way or another.” She finally reaches her desired position, ear to Lexa’s chest and arms wrapped around her fit waist. Lexa sighs heavily and kisses the crown of blonde hair, then rests her chin atop it.

“Her and Raven should get to know each other, she has always been the same way.”

Clarke hums in content agreement. “I love you, Lex.”

“I love you too, beautiful.”

 

_ Saturday, October 28th 10:35am _

 

“Lexa, who is that?” Octavia asks quietly as they exit the vehicle at the Reyes-Forrester house. Lexa looks up from the back of the SUV to see a large, mohawked man helping to carry in some wood from his truck.

“That’s Lincoln, Anya’s cousin.” She turns to see Octavia staring as he picks up the next piece of wood and throws it over his shoulder with ease. “He’s single, financially secure, bilingual and really one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. So stop drooling and go offer to help him.”

“I’m not drooling.” Octavia gasps offendedly.

“You were, a little. You got some right-” Lexa makes a circular motion toward her face and the younger girl frantically wipes her chin causing Lexa to let out a bark of laughter, which earns a scowl from Octavia. “Just go talk to him, O. You look fine.”

“Talk to who?” Lincoln strides up next to the car, wiping the thin sheen of sweat from his brow on his t shirt.

“You. Linc, this is Octavia, Clarke’s sister. Octavia, this is Lincoln.”

“Hi, Octavia. It’s nice to meet you.” He flashes a friendly smile and sticks out his hand. “I've heard a lot about you, Clarke and Aden.”

“Oh really.” Octavia eyes Lexa curiously. “Good things I hope.”

“Very good. And you must be Clarke.” Lincoln looks over the other two women’s shoulders to the blonde.

“I am.” She moves forward and lifts her unoccupied hand to shake his outstretched one. Then he kneels down to four year old level, and shakes Aden’s hand too.

“Well hello Aden. My name in Lincoln.”

“Hi Wincoln. Are you friends wif Wexa?”

“I am. We’ve been friends for a few years now.”

“Wike Rae and Anya?”

Lincoln smiles, amused by the boy. “Rae has known Lexa much longer than any of us have, but I have known her almost as long as Anya. See, Anya is my cousin.”

“Oh, I don’t have any cousins. How do I get cousins?”

Clarke laughs and gets down on his level too. “Well, auntie O or uncle Bell would need to have a baby for you to get a cousin right now, bud. I don’t think that’s in the cards for either of them.”

“You guys just going to stand around all day or are you actually here to help?” Raven snaps from the front door.

“Oh, snippy Raven is here. That means she is stressed out.” Lexa explains as she picks Aden up. “Come on everyone. Time to divide and conquer. I’ll take Raven. Lincoln and Octavia, you see what Anya needs. Clarke, you’re with me.”

“What about me, Wexa?” 

“Aden, I have a very special project for you. You get to make pictures for the kid that’s coming to live with them. How does that sound?”

Aden nods seriously. “What do dey wike?”

“Well, I’m not sure. You’ll just have to make a variety of things so you cover all the bases, okay? Can you handle that?”

“Mmhmm.”

Ten minutes later Aden is set up and Clarke and Lexa are sitting in the living room with Raven reading the file for the child that will be joining their family in just a few days. Avery Jacobs, two and a half years old. Currently living with an emergency foster family, she will be transferred to the custody of the Reyes-Forrester’s care on Monday October 30th. She became a ward of the state when both parents were arrested for multiple counts of drug possession, possession with intent to distribute, child endangerment, felony fleeing, assault on an officer and resisting arrest.

“She’s so cute.” Clarke comments as Lexa hands over the photo. “She’s really young, so the likelihood she’ll remember anything or have long term emotional damage is very low. She may have some trust issues in the beginning. If you need anything, I’m right down the street. I can bring Aden over to play. Socialization tends to help.”

“Did you have any of that with Aden?” Raven takes the photo and looks at it again before putting it back into the file. Avery has brown hair and eyes and tan skin. Her mother is hispanic and her father is white.

“Some.” Clarke looks over her shoulder to where her son is drawing quietly. “For the first few months, any loud noises made him cry hysterically, but other than that not really. Well except for the picking him up thing. But he likes all of you so far. I mean, he was sitting in Anya’s lap at the bbq and he let you lift him up to see the karate trophies a few weeks ago. Bell still doesn’t get that.”

“Patience and consistency are key according to the social worker.”

“Truth.”

It takes about four hours to paint the room and put together all the furniture. Then Lincoln, Anya and Octavia began with the back yard safety while Clarke rattled off a list of childproofing they needed to do inside the house. So far they have anchored all the bookshelving to the walls so they wouldn’t tip, moved chemicals from under the sink to out on a higher shelf in the garage, and sent Aden on a hunt for all the electrical outlets he could find. The theory was he was small enough to find the ones the adults wouldn’t consider. It seemed to work pretty well.

Now they were finally done and grilling up some lunch.

“That was Kane. He’ll be calling you too. I let him know about Avery so I’ll be back in two weeks.” Anya kicks back, beer in hand, in one of the chairs around the patio table where everyone is sitting. Everyone congratulated her, except for Lexa who groaned and dropped her head onto the table. “What?”

“That means I have to partner with someone else for two weeks.” The brunette whines. “You know it’s going to be me and the wonder twins. Kane always wants us to coach them.” As the rest of the group laughs at Lexa, the exception being Clarke who juts out her bottom lip and rubs circles on her girlfriend’s back, her phone begins to ring. “It’s Kane.”

Lexa rises from the table and walks further into the yard to answer, Aden watches her intently which draws a curious gaze from Clarke.

“Mommy. Is Wexa going back to work?”

“Mmhmm.” The boy frowns at her answer. “Is something wrong with that?”

“I don’t wike it when she works. We don’t spend so much time wif her.” Everyone at the table stops what they are doing to stare at the little boy in Clarke’s lap. To her credit, she only looked shocked for a second.

“I know you want her to be with you every second of the day bud, but that just can’t happen.” She runs her fingers through his short blonde hair. “Just like I have to go to work, so does Lexa. That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t rather be hanging out with us though.”

“Okay Mommy.” Aden hops off of his mother’s lap and goes back to the coloring pages he has spread over the deck.

Anya watches him walk away then looks Lexa’s direction. “He’s pretty attached to her, huh?”

“Yeah, he gets grumpy when you guys have a case and we don’t see her for a few days. He doesn’t realize how much time she actually does spend with us.”

Anya sighs. “We both need to work on being more family oriented when we have a case. We go and go until we solve it or are nearly burnt out, it’s not healthy. It’s definitely not fair to you guys.” She looks to Raven and gets a hum and a nod in response.

“I don’t envy any of you in that department.” Lincoln takes a swig of beer. “I’m home by seven every night.”

Raven rolls her eyes. “Yeah, you are now, but let’s talk about the six or so years it took you to get to that point.”

He mumbles into the bottle. “Rather not.”

“People like Raven and I understand overtime, though.” Clarke adds. “And Lexa was very upfront when it came to that particular situation. It does worry me though, because I know what could happen if you go after someone and aren’t on your game.”

“I have been trying to tell them that for so long. You guys need to slow down and take a second.” Raven shakes her head. “Look what happened to Austin and Ontari. They had no reason to think that guy was going to do what he did.”

“Yeah, we have more than just ourselves to think about. I see that now.” Lexa joined into the conversation. “I did a lot of thinking the past couple of weeks. I’m not going to lie, and Clarke knows this already, I was pretty shaken up after the whole thing.” She grabbed her beer from the table and took a long swig. “The first couple nights I had nightmares and took like four showers trying to get the nonexistent blood off my hands. The worst thing though was the look on her face when she opened the ambulance door. I never want to see that look again.”

Clarke grabs Lexa’s hand under the table and and strokes her thumb across the back. Lexa smiles at the gesture then leans over to peck her girlfriend on the cheek. “Love you.” Clarke mumbles.

“Love you too.”

“You two are gross.” Raven mutters as she rises for the table. “Anybody else want another?”

 

_ 8:45pm _

 

“Aden, we need to have a talk. Come here.” Lexa motions to her lap, as she sits down on the couch. The boy doesn’t hesitate and is climbing up with her almost instantly. “I heard you are upset that I am going back to work. Is that true?” Aden nods his head seriously. “Why does that upset you.”

“You onwy come for dinner and on the weekends. When you don’t work we can pway aww day! And when mommy says you have a case I don’t see you for days Wexa!”

Lexa smiles at him, finding him just to cute as he makes grand gestures with his arms. “I know little one. It’s not the most ideal thing, but I promise I am going to try to be better when I have cases okay? I promise I won’t go too long without taking a break to see you. How does that sound?”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” She holds out a pinky and schools a very serious look on her face so he knows she means business. He wraps his finger around hers then flings his arms around her neck. “Love you, little one.”

“I wove you too, Wexa.”

_ “Aden. Time to brush your teeth.”  _ Clarke calls from up the staircase. He extracts himself from Lexa’s hold and shimmies out of her lap, darting off to comply with the instruction from his mother. Lexa checks her phone before heading up to complete the nightly ritual.

 

[Sean 8:12pm] Think you could watch the kiddos on Thursday at like 5?

[Lexa 8:19pm] I don’t think I have any plans, let me check with Clarke to make sure I didn’t miss anything. 

[Sean 8:20pm] You back to work yet?

[Lexa 8:20pm] Monday.

[Sean 8:21pm] Cool, let me know.

 

After they put Aden to bed, Clarke insists they watch a movie. Octavia is with her study group, so it’s just the two of them, something that doesn’t seem to be happening a lot recently. Their movie watching session has turned into more of a lazy makeout/cuddle on the couch session, but neither one of them would change it. The credits roll and Lexa sits up in search of water, but Clarke stays put in her position.

“I think Octavia is into Lincoln. They’d make a really cute couple.”

Lexa finishes her sip as she nods along in agreement. “Yeah they would. Oh, my brother asked me to watch the kids on Thursday. Do we have any plans?”

“Hmm, Thursday? No I don’t think so.”

“So I was thinking maybe I take Aden with me to watch the munchkin bunch. That way you can have some alone time. You don’t get very much of that.”

Clarke eyes her curiously, so curiously in fact it makes her think she may have said something wrong, although she couldn’t think of what that might be. “Are you even real? How are you so good to me?”

Lexa laughs, then leans back down to kiss the blonde lightly. “So you’re good with that?”

“So good. You know what I want though that I haven’t had too much of recently?”

Lexa raises a brow. “What’s that?”

“Alone time with you. My parents want to take him around their neighborhood for Halloween.” Clarke husks in the brunettes ear as Lexa switches to kissing down her neck. “We should go to your apartment and defile every single surface.”

“Fuck.”

“That’s the idea.” The doctor giggles.

 

_ Saturday November 11th, 8:15am _

 

“Where is Lexa?” Abby asked as she sits next to Jake in her own lawn chair. It is Aden’s last games of the season and everyone including Raven, Avery and Lincoln is present. The only people missing are Anya and Lexa. “She should be here by now right?”

“She and Anya are on their way. They got their warrant late last night and they just finished typing their reports.” Raven answers, while handing Avery her crayons. The girl has adjusted fairly well to living with Anya and Raven. While being new parents has been an interesting transition, they have found all sorts of support. Raven, Clarke and Octavia have all gotten to know each other pretty well, as the two Griffin’s always seem to be available to help them out. The Woods’ have also been extremely helpful and Anya is more than grateful for her partner in anti-crime’s family. “Should be here any minute.”

“Nope, we’re here now.” Lexa announces, lawn chair in hand and Anya next to her with a chair of her own. Lexa kisses Clarke’s temple before setting up her chair and sitting next to her girlfriend. Anya pulls a similar move, but additionally kissing Avery’s head and ruffling her hair. “How is your morning so far?”

“Really good. Did you guys get everything squared away?”

“Yeah they did.” Everyone turns in their seat to look over their shoulders and find Marcus Kane and his wife Callie striding up with their chairs. “Their my two best, of course they did.” Jake rises from his chair and embraces his friend. Then Abby and Clarke do the same, also hugging Callie.

“Oh my gosh Clarke, Aden is so big!” Callie looks to the field dumbfounded. “How it’s only been a few months since I’ve seen him. How did that happen?”

“Kids just age too quickly. Next thing you know, he’ll be in high school.” Abby chuckles.

“Don’t say that mom!” Clarke shrieks.

“Are you think about another, or just him?” Clarke involuntarily looks to Lexa who is chatting with Raven and didn’t hear the question Callie posed.

Abby leans in a whispers. “I saw that.”

“What?” Clarke blushes immediately. “Saw what?”

“You giving Lexa heart-eyes when asked about more kids.” Callie teases with a nudge of her arm. “Don’t worry, it’s cute.”

“It’s also way too soon, and we have never had that conversation.”

 

_ 1:15pm _

 

In celebration of Aden’s first season, it was decided they should have a bbq to celebrate. One of the perks of living in Northern California is the weather stays relatively mild through November. Mornings are cold (to Californian’s standards) in the upper 40’s but the days get up to the mid 70’s. Although Callie and Marcus already had other plans, everyone else came to the event at the Griffin residence. Lunch has been served and everyone is sitting around, catching up and laughing at each other’s antics. Aden and Avery have quickly become inseparable and he has brought a plethora of toys from his room to the backyard where the adults are gathered.

“You know what is the hardest thing to control?” Raven says before she takes another swig from her beer. “Not hovering. It’s like I constantly want to know what she’s doing to make sure she is safe.”

“How long have you had her now?” Abby asks, as Aden climbs into her lap, steals some fruit off of her plate, pecks her on the cheek, then hops back down to go play.

“Coming up on a month.”

“It’ll die down a bit, but it never goes away.” Abby states. “I still feel the need to just talk to these girls and Bellamy, just to hear their voices and know they are okay. Welcome to motherhood.”

“Speaking of, have you heard from Bell recently?” Octavia stops her chatting with Lincoln and Anya to ask. “He hasn’t returned any of my emails recently.”

“He uh.” Jake clears his throat. “He called me last week and said his team was selected to go into increasingly more hostile territory and protect a high level asset. That he would be incommunicado for two weeks, minimum.”

“What?!” Both younger Griffin’s exclaim at the same time, before Clarke finishes. “Why didn’t you tell us before.”

“We didn’t want you guys worrying.” Abby explains. “He’ll be fine.”

 

_ 6:45pm _

 

Clarke, Lexa and Aden are dancing around the kitchen listening to music as they make dinner. Octavia leans in the doorway for a minute and takes a few pictures before clearing her throat. “So, um. How do I look?”

“You look great, as usual.” Lexa says, turning to the younger girl first. “Where you off to?”

Octavia looks down shyly and mutters. “Dinner with Lincoln.”

“Damn it.” Lexa rolls her eyes and pulls a ten out her pocket and deposits it into Clarke awaiting upturned palm. “How?”

A very smug looking Clarke just shrugs. “I know my sister.”

“He’s not talking you to Broadleaf is he? He better have better game than that, otherwise I’ll kick him in the shin.”

Clarke smacks her with a kitchen towel. “Hey you took me there for our first date, look how well that worked out.”

“Yes, but it’s totally different since he owns the restaurant.”

The blonde hums along. “True.”

“So… Anyway. We’re going to this new spot downtown, I don’t remember what he said it was called but it’s like a high end whiskey bar with ‘provisions.’ I don’t know what that means, but he was super excited about it and I like whiskey so we’re going.”

“Well. Have fun, we’re going to have dinner, watch movies and hit the hay. So be ready to give us the full run down tomorrow morning.”

“Will do. Aden come say goodbye to your favorite auntie.” She squats down and awaits her hug with open arms.

Aden runs over and crashes into her. “Wove you.”

She kisses his forehead. “Love you too.”

The trio finishes dinner then plops down on the couch for movie time. It was Clarke’s turn to pick and she chose Moana. Aden is completely happy with that choice because he loves Hei-Hei.

“Mommy can we go to Disneywand?”

“Uh. Lexa and I will talk about it later okay?” Clarke brushes her hand through Aden’s hair. “We would really have to plan, it’s not just a snap decision.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

After reading Aden his bedtime story, Clarke and Lexa find themselves back on the couch with a not so kid friendly show playing in the background as they engage in a heavy make out session. Clarke realizes where it’s heading and they they are still on the couch. “Babe, hold up. Just slow it down okay?”

Lexa immediately pulls back and looks to her girlfriend with wide eyes. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong.” Clarke breathes out. “Just… we can’t fuck on the couch, Lex. What if Aden comes down?”

“Oh. Yeah, we can slow down. Or we can go up stairs.” Lexa resumes her ministrations on Clarke’s collarbone then neck up her jaw and finally reaches her lips. “Up to you.”

“Before we go upstairs, what do you think about what Aden asked earlier?” Clarke looks up at her with hopeful blue eyes. “You can say no. I would understand.”

“Say no to a vacation to Disney with you and Aden? I’d have to be certifiable.” Lexa leans down and pecks her lips softly, as Clarke’s smile widens. “How about February? The parks tend to be slower then and the weather is usually pretty good. I can put in a request when I go back to work Monday.” She kisses up the column of Clarke’s throat and pecks her on the lips.

“Really? You’re down, just like that?”

Lexa’s brows knit together. “Why are you so surprised?” She its back on her heels, fully removing herself from the blonde.

Clarke knows that look she’s getting. Sometimes, when Clarke is in disbelief of how amazing her girlfriend is, she says things in the wrong tone, the tone that says ‘whatever you just said, I don’t buy it.’ She must have just done that right now, because Lexa looks upset. She bites her lip and takes a second to find the right words to show her that she wasn’t being accusatory, just genuinely surprised Lexa could make such a fast decision. “Lex…” She breathes out as she sits up. “Hey, I was just surprised that you can just decide that with no time to think it over. That’s all. I know you love me and Aden, and I want nothing more that to go on vacation with you.”

“So you get to make that decision just like that but I don’t because of what? Because I am not the one with a kid?” Lexa stands from the couch and fixes her clothing with a stern look. “Why is it, Clarke? Why are you so surprised every time I want to be there for you? For Aden? Have I been missing something in the past nine months? Please explain to me why it’s always such a shock. Because I think I have done a pretty good job of proving to be reliable.”

“You have.” Clarke nods as she sits back in the couch pulling her legs up in front of her. “You have, I don’t know why I am surprised, okay?”

“No. It’s not okay. There has to be some reason.” Lexa sighs as she drops herself on to the other end of the couch. “What have I done wrong in this relationship?”

Clarke shakes her head back and forth. “Nothing.”

“So why are you so insecure about the fact that I want to be here?”

The blonde’s eyes go wide. “I am afraid that one day, you’ll wake up and realize you don’t want to be.”

Lexa looks over to her with wide eyes as the anger she was feeling a moment ago changes into something else. “What?”

“I’m scared that the whole instant family thing is going to get old for you and you’ll leave.”

The brunette shifts on the couch to face her girlfriend. “Clarke, I love you. I love you and Aden and I am not going anywhere.”

“You say that now…”

“I mean it. I’m not going anywhere. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I promise I’m not going to leave. Come here.” She holds her arms out for Clarke to climb into her lap. That’s how Octavia finds them when she returns from her date with Lincoln, wrapped in each other’s arms on the couch. She tosses the throw blanket over them then heads to bed.

 

_ Thanksgiving Day 2017 9am _

 

“It’s too early for this O.”

“It’s never to early for a good cause, Princess. You complain every year, yet here you are.” Octavia nudges her side.

“Eight in the morning is far too early to go running.” Clarke huffs from her place. “You know how I hate physical activity.”

“It’s a 5k, Clarke. Aden isn’t complaining. Right little man?”

“Right Auntie O.” They all stood together, waiting for the start if the 5k portion of the annual Thanksgiving Run to Feed The Hungry in their yellow shirts. This year they are joined by Raven, Lincoln and Avery. Lexa and Anya both had to work, the event pulling a high amount of police resources as they had nearly 30,000 people registered to participate in the two runs.

“You guys do this every year?” Raven asks from next to Clarke.

“Yeah, Octavia used to do the 10k but since Aden she does the 5k again. Bell used to do the 5k with me.”

The snap of a cap gun and the crowd moving drew them from their conversation. Octavia and Aden ran forward a bit, leading the group before Lincoln ran and scoops Aden up over his shoulder. The boy giggles as Lincoln chases Octavia in circles with him thrown over his shoulder.

At mile two and a half, there is a small group of girls gathered just past a water station taking selfies with the police officers posted there. Clarke and Raven look on as one of the young women tosses her head back at something Lexa said then touched her arm softly. The uniformed clad detective bristles a bit and pulls back from the woman, who frowns slightly.

“You should go save your girl from…” Raven waves her hand is a circular motion over the crowd. “That.” Clarke chuckles but jogs up to ‘Linctavia,’ as Raven had dubbed them, and points Lexa out to Aden who immediately takes off at a full sprint.

“WEXA!” Aden yells as he nearly barrels through the crowd and launches himself at her. She scoops him up and he wraps his arms tightly around her neck and puts his head down on her shoulder, which gets a collective ‘awe’ from the crowd.

“So, good job, super hot, good with kids. Complete package. The flirty girl says to her friend.

“Don’t forget taken.” Clarke bites as she passes them and presses a quick kiss to her girlfriend’s lips. “Hey. Hey Ahn.”

“Sup. Where’s my wife and kid?”

“Here.” Raven and Avery make their way through the rapidly dispersing crowd of young women. “Awe, your fan club left.”   
“Thank god.” The officers both huff at the same time. Anya leans in and kisses Avery’s temple. “If this event wasn’t for charity, we would have told them to get lost a long time ago.”

“How is the race? I see your pace is rather… Leisurely.”

“Lexa Woods, did you just call us lazy?” Clarke mocks with her hands on her hips.

“I think she did, Clarke. I’m actually pretty sure she did.” Raven joins in.

Lexa laughs as Clarke takes Aden from her arms and her smile turns into a pout. “No pie for you later.” Clarke smirks over her shoulder and starts to walk away.

“Wait!” Lexa walks over and kisses Clarke again, then Aden’s forehead. “Love you both. See you at my parents around 5?”

“Mmhmm. Love you too.”

“Wove you Wexa.”

 

_ Thanksgiving Day 2017 4:45pm _

 

“Welcome Clarke, Octavia and Aden.” Luther greets as he answers the front door. “Come in, come in. There are about four hundred people here so welcome to the chaos.” He laughs as she gestures with an upturned palm toward the center of the house. “Octavia, you haven’t met everyone, so please feel free to ask them who they are.”

“Thanks Luther.”

“I’m going to just drop this in the kitchen, Aden do you want to go find Liam?” The boy nods and takes off through the house as Clarke and Octavia head for the kitchen. “Mashed potatoes, as requested.”

The kitchen crew consisted of Amanda, Stephanie, Mary and Raven. “Hello lovely. Come join us women.” Mary hugs Clarke then Octavia, then takes the crock pot full of potatoes from the blonde. “Close that door sweety.” She juts her chin toward the door behind Octavia and sets the container down.

“Hey Clarke, O. Here’s your drink. You have some catching up to do.” Raven hands over cups full of mimosa. 

Amanda hugs Clarke next. “Welcome to the Woods Thanksgiving, where the men out there think we are slaving over hot stoves but in reality, were in here drinking and playing cards while they deal with all the children.”

“Oh, I like this family.” Octavia chuckles.

Clarke matches her laugh and then introduces her sister to Lexa’s two. “So where is that dear sister of mine?”

“Her and Ahn were on shift today. They should be here any minute. Who’s in for hold ‘em? Buy in is $20.” Raven calls from the table. “Amanda is the reigning champ from last Christmas.” Everyone moves to the table and she passes out the chips and collects the money.

“They never come in here?” Octavia cocks her head to the side and looks at Mary.

“Oh no, dear. They have been conditioned to believe if they interrupt the process, they won’t eat.” The matriarch explains. “Grandma Sue is coming by around six, let’s make sure she has a spot not near Clarke please. The poor girl doesn’t need to be pestered about Lexa.”

“Thanks. Lexa said she can be… Intense.” Clarke’s face washes over with relief.

Mary, Amanda and Stephanie all laugh. “Intense is putting it kindly dear. She’s my mother so I will say that the right word is bitch. She’s can be a bitch, but she has the best intentions when it comes to the children.”

“Alright, enough chit chat. Let’s do this.” Raven deals everyone in and the first round of betting happens. The flop is the king of hearts, two of diamonds and the ten of clubs. After the flop, Amanda and Octavia fold. The turn is the six of hearts. Raven folds, leaving Clarke and Mary.

“You’re hard to read, dear.”

“Only in this situation. Our dad made sure of that.” Octavia laughs as she sits back. The river card is the ten of diamonds.

“On pair on the table.” Raven reads. “Mary, bet’s to you.”

“Hmm. I’ll check.”

Clarke sighs, looks at her cards, then the cards on the table. “Two dollars.” She tosses the chips to the middle of the table.

“Call. Let me see them.”

Clarke smirks. “Full house. Tens over Kings.” She flips her cards revealing the king of spades and the ten of hearts. Raven lets out a low whistle.

“Solid opening hand to this game. Mary?”   
“Sixes over Tens.” She tosses her pocket sixes face up on the table. “Nice hand.”

Clarke nods and smiles as she pulls her winnings from the pot. They play five more hands before Lexa and Anya make it into the kitchen.

“Smells amazing in here.” Lexa compliments as she kisses the crown of her girlfriend’s head. She walks toward the oven and stops when she hears her mother’s voice.

“Alexandria Woods, don’t you dare open that oven.”

The brunette’s shoulders slump and she turns sharply back toward the table and stalks over, taking a seat between Octavia and Clarke. She slaps down a twenty and Raven doles out her chips after Anya’s. “Damn babe, have you been running the table?”

“Yes.” Everyone says in unison.

“Whatever you do, do not play blackjack with her.” Octavia laughs. “She’s basically a pro. I mean, we went on a cruise for my twenty first birthday and somehow Clarke came away with enough to pay for the next one and take the parents.”

Clarke shrugs as she sips her mimosa. “Dad taught me well.”

When the laughter subsides the door to the kitchen opens again. “Mommy?” Aden’s voice carries throughout the room.

“Aden?” The boy runs over and climbs into her lap. He kisses her cheek then transfers himself very ungracefully into Lexa’s lap.

“Hi Wexa. What are you playing?”

“Hey bud. Poker.”

He points to her hand. “Dese yours?” She nods and holds them up or him to see. He looks at the cards in the middle with his brows knitted together, then back to her cards.

“It’s to you, Lexa.”

Aden grabs her cards and tosses them into the pile. “She folds.” Everyone looks at him and then Lexa, Clarke, then back to him. “Wexa you had a two and a four.” He holds up his fingers to further make his point. “Dose are high cards in da fwop, someone else can beat dat easy peasy.”

“Remind me to have a talk with Grampa mister.” Clarke laughs and runs her fingers through his hair. “Give me a kiss then go out and play with the other kids.”

He does as he’s told and hops off of Lexa’s lap, as he reaches the door it swings open and an elderly woman steps through. “Well who is this handsome young man?”   
Aden shyly back peddles and jumps into Lexa’s arms as she stands from the table. “Grandma Sue, this is Aden. He’s my girlfriend Clarke’s son. Aden, Clarke this is my Grandma Sue.” She gestures to Clarke, who moves to stand as she speaks. Aden buries his head in Lexa’s neck and refuses to make eye contact.

“Sorry, he’s a bit shy. Hi, I’m Clarke.” The blonde offers her hand to the old woman. “It’s very nice to meet you.”   
“Nice to meet you as well. Are we playing or what?”

“Yeah, mom. I saved you a seat over here.” Mary waves her over and gestures between herself and Stephanie.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to take him out to be with the other kids.” Lexa kisses Clarke’s cheek when she gets a nod. “Take all of their money for the vacation fund.”

“Vacation fund?” Amanda questions. “Where, when?”

Clarke watches as the door closes behind her girlfriend, making sure Aden can’t hear her. “Aden doesn’t know yet, but Disneyland in February.”

“Oh, exciting. He’ll love it. Taking one his age is easy, but more than that can be a challenge.” Stephanie smiles.

“So, blonde one who is clearly smitten with my granddaughter. Sit, tell me about yourself.” Clarke stiffens a bit, but complies with the request. Mary rises from her chair with a groan and pats Clarke on the shoulder.

“Deal the cards, Rae. I’ve got to baste the turkey.” She leans down to whisper in the doctor’s ear. “Wipe the floor with her, dear.”

 

Four hands in and Lexa has returned. She mutters something to Octavia who happily bounds out of the room. Clarke glances at her sideways and Lexa shrugs with a knowing smirk.

“Why is my sister so giddy?”

“Oh, no particular reason.” The detective takes a sip of her drink. “Oh. Ahn, your cousin decided to show up.”

“Oh my goodness. Are Octavia and Lincoln together?” Amanda shrieks. “They would make the cutest babies!”

“It’s very new. They met when they helped us prep for Avery.” Raven explains. “Thanks for the clothes by the way.”

“No problem. Oh my goodness. That so cute. I can’t believe everyone is in love.”

Dinner goes off without a hitch. At dinner, Clarke was sat next to Lexa and across from her grandma and grandpa. She was still getting judgemental vibes from Grandma Sue but Grandpa Hawthorne was the sweetest person she had ever met. Well, aside from Lexa. The meal was fantastic and the huge group of family and friends chatted as the passed the food around. Aden and the children sat at their own table and the young Griffin sat quietly and ate his whole plate. Mary was very impressed. Dessert, however, is a different story. Grandma Sue seems to have made it her mission to get under Clarke’s skin.

“So, Clarke, what is it you do for work? Or does Lexa here pay for everything?”   
“Mother!”

“Grandma!”

“Susan!”

A chorus of offend voices spill out and every adult in the room folds their arms across their chest. Lexa steps forward towards her grandmother confidently and holds up her hand indicating for the murmuring in the room to stop.

“Grandma, I can appreciate that what you think you are doing is looking out for me, but please. Leave Clarke alone. Not only is is rude, but it’s unwarranted. Clarke is one of the most wonderful people anyone in this room has ever met and that question was completely out of line. Especially because she is a doctor, and makes more money than I do. Most nights I can be found in their home, eating the food she has purchased. She a great mother, a wonderful friend, a dedicated doctor and the best girlfriend I could possibly have hoped for. So drop it.”

Grandma Sue looks her up and down. “Huh, so you do have a backbone. It’s about damn time you said something, I’ve been picking on her all night.”

“You picked on us too, we just took it.” Chris announced from the other side of the room.

Sue shook her head. “Like Clarke, you all were too nice to say anything, because you didn’t want to offend the grandma. But your significant others never said anything in your defense. Not until Lexa. Now you know she’ll stand up for you in any situation, dear.”

Clarke swallows roughly and shakes her head. “I already knew that.”

 

_ Thanksgiving Day 2017 9:45pm _

 

“I’m sorry for my grandma, Clarke. I really am.” Lexa presses a kiss to the bare shoulder in front of her in the tub.

“I already told you it’s fine, babe. You can’t control her. Besides, I did take all of her money.” Clarke turns and looks over her shoulder and the brunette leans in to connect their lips. “I love you so much.”

“Love you too.” Her lips move back to the blonde’s shoulder. “Overall, the first major holiday was a success right? Christmas will totally be fine?”

“Yeah, and we get multiple Christmases.” Clarke turns in the water and moves to wrap her legs around legs firm body. “So I have this idea. Since we need to celebrate with my family and yours, and I know you won’t able to not spoil Aden…”

“How’d you know?” Lexa laughs as her kisses along the shapely jaw of her girlfriend.

“Since you are out of control, any presents I buy him, he can open at my parents house, and vice versa. Just so he isn’t left out while all the kids are opening things there.”

“You do realize I am like this for a reason, right? My whole family will be buying both of you gifts. It’s just the way the Woods work. But don’t worry. I have already shopped for all of them and I'll sign the tags with Clarke, Lexa and Aden.”

“You’re serious aren’t you?”

“One hundred percent.”

“Did you already wrap everything too? I need to contribute somehow.”

Lexa chuckles and presses their lips together. “You can wrap everything. I promise.”

“Perfect.”


End file.
